Beautiful Vintage Postcards of the Glamorous Butlin’s Ocean Hotel in Saltdean

Opened in 1938 the Ocean Hotel occupied a site of around 4 acres with 344 bedrooms and a dining hall that could seat 300 people. It consisted of a main building shaped like a crescent which contained the whole of the public rooms and some of the bedrooms, and there were six other buildings which contained bedrooms and bathrooms only. The hotel was so arranged that during the winter season the six detached blocks could be closed down and the main building, with its 130 bedrooms, run as a separate hotel. An outdoor swimming pool (later enclosed) was built between the buildings.

During the war the hotel was taken over by the Auxiliary Fire Service and later became a fire service college which was officially opened by the then Home Secretary Herbert Morrision. It was used throuhgout the war and was not handed back until 1952 when the lease was acquired by Billy Butlin for £250,000. Its doors were opened as a holiday centre again on 2 May 1953, after an army of workmen had spent the previous six months restoring the near-derelict building. It soon became popular with honeymooners and Billy Butlin later said the hotel was one of the best investments he'd ever made. (by Butlins Memories)

More fascinating vintage postcards and photographs could be found at Glen’s amazing Flickr site.

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Vintage Photos of German Submarine U-118 Washed Ashore on the Beach at Hastings, 1919

After World War I ended, the German Navy surrendered and many of its ships were interned at the Royal Navy's chief naval base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands north of the Scottish mainland. The German submarine U-118, however, was destined for France to be broken up for scrap. While she was being towed, a fierce gale snapped the cable and she ended up like a gigantic beached whale washed ashore on Hasting's Beach, in front of Hasting's finest hotels.

SM U-118 was one of nine huge ocean-going mine laying submarines. Launched on February 23, 1918, she was 267 feet long, displaced 1,200 tons and was armed with a 150mm deck gun, 14 torpedoes and 42 mines. SM U-118 had a lackluster career, sinking only two ships, one just off Ireland's north coast and the other northwest of Spain. She was surrendered to the Allies on February 23, 1919, exactly one year after she was launched. While being towed to France through the English Channel in rough seas, U-118 broke free. Despite attempts by a French destroyer to break her up, she ended up aground on the beach in the middle of the city of Hastings on the Sussex coast in southern England on April 15, just in time for the Easter Holiday.

The stranding caused a sensation. Thousands of people flocked to see this monster that had washed ashore, it's true size evident from the aerial view taken shortly after the beaching. Three tractors tried to drag it back to the sea, but failed. At that point, the city fathers decided to make the best of this instant tourist attraction. The Admiralty put the local coast guard in charge and allowed the town clerk to charge sixpence apiece to visitors wishing to climb onto the deck of U-118. After two weeks, nearly £300 (UK£ 13,200 in 2017) had been raised for the Mayor's Fund for the welcome home of troops planned for later that year.

Two members of the coast guard, chief boatman William Heard and chief officer W. Moore, showed important visitors around the interior of the submarine. The visits were curtailed in late April, when both coast guard men became severely ill. Rotting food on board was thought to be the cause, however, the men's condition continued and got worse. Moore died in December 1919, followed by Heard in February 1920. An inquest decided that a noxious gas, possibly chlorine released from the submarine's damaged batteries, had caused abscesses on the men's lungs and brain.

Although visits inside the submarine had stopped, tourists still came to take be photographed alongside or on the U-boat's deck. Finally, between October and December 1919, U-118 was broken up and sold for scrap. The deck gun was left behind, but was removed in 1921. Some of the ship's keel may yet remain buried in the beach sand.

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This Elderly Couple Posed for the Same Shot Every Season for 12 Months, Then Life Happened...

Photographer Ken Griffiths captured this series of photographs called “English Country Garden” back in 1973 for the Sunday Times magazine. For 12 months, this loving couple posed for the same shot in their garden outside their home in East Sussex, England. The series tells us the story of long-lived love, and in the end, the loneliness of loss.

We can see seasons pass; blossomed flowers and plants, sunshine, rain, clouds, all changing while the couple, Mr and Mrs Sweetman, stood still and loving.

Ken's works are always give us a glimpse behind the scenes of people's lives or entire communities, but this series is one of the most dramatic, giving us a real touch of the remorse of loss as we become engaged in the couple's lives and the husband’s lonely stand in the final picture.

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Marilyn Monroe Look-a-Like Competitions in the UK From the Late 1950s

Having a Marilyn Monroe look-a-like competition in 1958 was not something out of the ordinary, considering that the Hollywood diva was in the prime of her career and she was considered the most beautiful woman in the world. Arguably, she still holds the title today.

Marilyn Monroe look-a-like competition in Hastings, UK, ca. 1958.

Monroe competition at Newquay. Women taking part in a Marilyn Monroe look alike contest, September 1958.

This Marilyn Monroe look-a-like competition took place in Hastings, UK, in 1958, proving that unlike her rivals Liz Taylor and Betty Brosmer, she was famous and loved worldwide, especially in the UK and Japan.

Contestants in the competition – Bognor Regis, 12th July 1960, Sussex, UK

These pictures show just how much women wanted to be like Marilyn Monroe, mainly because men from the 1950s and ’60s couldn’t imagine a more beautiful, voluptuous and sensual woman.

Every man wanted her and every woman wanted to be Marilyn Monroe, and the closest they ever got to their dream was a look-a-like competition. This applies to most of the men, as well as for most of the women.