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Because it is on the Greenwich Meridian, it rarely rains in Cleethorpes.
Located on the North West coast of England,
Cleethorpes is a former ship building town that suffered badly when the yards
were closed by the Thatcher Government in the 1980s.
Since that time Cleethorpes has re-invented itself as a health and spa town,
being the venue for visitors who fly in to nearby Waltham International
Airport from around the
world. The spa itself - actually located in the former holiday camp of
Beacholme in the neighbouring village
of Humberston - has
attracted many 'A' list stars. It is to there that Paris Hilton fled after
being released from prison in June 07 and it is rumoured that the Madonna-Guy
Ritchie wedding actually took place at the spa, with the Skibo Castle 'wedding'
simply being a staged event to throw the paparazzi off the scent. It is also
rumoured that HRH Prince William and Kate Middleton
spent their first night as a married couple in Cleethorpes.
Celebrities who have homes in or around Cleethorpes include Michelle Pfieffer,
Herschel Krustofski, former US president Jimmy Carter, Rainier Wolfcastle,
Harrison Ford, Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Meryl Streep,
Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Caine and all three of the acting Baldwin brothers.
Cleethorpes pier once stretched over a mile into the river Trent,
on which Cleethorpes sits. The pier was dismantled in 1963 as it was feared
that the Russians would use it to land spies during the cold war.
In Hindi, Cleethorpes is translated as 'the promised land'.
Cleethorpes' reputation of being a clean town is substantially due to it being
the birthplace and home of revolutionary vacuum cleaner inventor James Dyson.
Early prototypes were given to the unemployed of the town who were encouraged
to use them as they went about their daily lives around the town.
After its successful moon landing in 1969, Apollo 11 splashed down in the sea
only 500 yards from the beach at Cleethorpes. Upon stepping ashore near the
boating lake, Buzz Aldrin was said to have commented "the years of
training and the danger involved was all worth while just to be able to tell
people that I have been to Cleethopres".
The film 'Saving Private Ryan' was filmed on the beaches of Cleethorpes. That
director Steven Spielberg
and star Tom
Hanks are regular visitors to the
holiday resort at Humberston Fitties is believed to have influenced their
decision.
It was star Robin
Williams' affection for the local
delicacy of fish and chips that was the key factor in the buildings of the
former Clee Grammar School [now the Matthew
Humberstone Church of England School] was used for the filming of 'Dead Poets
Society'.
The use of Cleethorpes as the location for 'Ocean's 13' was controversially
vetoed by the town council as the cast of the film's reputation for all-night
partying was not in keeping with the new image of the spa resort. This was
despite the many of the casino-interior scenes of 'Ocean's 12' being filmed in
the town's old 'Wonderland' complex.
JR's wife in the TV series Dallas - Sue Ellen [actress Linda Gray]
- taught at Thrunscoe Rd Infants school before moving to Hollywood to pursue a career in the movies.
In episode 6, series 4 of Dallas, Sue Ellen
pays homage to her old home by telling an abusive JR that she was "going
to get away to Cleethorpes for a few days".
The Eifel Tower
was modelled on the Dock Tower in nearby Grimsby.
When work commenced on a new swimming pool at Bursar St junior school in the
sixties, Latin inscriptions found on foot high tablets embedded in the ground
were deciphered as 'I came, I saw, I ate candyfloss'.
During World War Two, Cleethorpes was occupied by the Germans for several days.
The Nazi troops had taken over the town in a bid to assassinate British
war-leader Winston
Churchill who was known to make
secret visits to sample the local cockles. The town was only liberated by the
allies after the plot was uncovered when a German dressed as a Polish
paratrooper was killed on a water wheel whilst saving the life of a small child.
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