Twenty years after the original Encyclpædia of Brighton researched and written by Tim Carder, was published, the fascinating, informative and entertaining New Encyclopædia of Brighton by the acclaimed biographer Rose Collis, combines the best of the original text with hundreds of new subjects. Here’s an extract which resonates with our front page cover of the Freestyle Motorcross riders, whose power, skill, showmanship and bravery performing gravity-defying motorcycle tricks stunned thousands of spectators in Brighton this summer.

The Great Omani (1915 – 2007) was also known as Ronald Cunningham. He kept himself and thousands of spectators amused with parlous stunts and feats of escapology, mostly for charity. Born in Windsor, he came from a wealthy family – his father was a wine merchant – and was educated at Sherborne public school in Dorset. The family firm went bankrupt and it was while he was almost penniless and living in London that he came across a book about Harry Houdini which, he said, flew off a bookshelf and landed at his feet.
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