INNOVATORS

Victor Chander
23 Feb 1924
 
Victor Chandler opened Brighton`s first betting shop in 1961 (pictured outside the shop, with his wife, Betty). He financed it himself because the rest of his family didn`t believe it would be successful. They soon regretted their decision as the business took off.
Always interested in racing, Chandler owned greyhounds and racing horses. He was also an innovator and instrumental in improving the image of bookmaking. He lived in Rottingdean and Seaford.
In time his one-shop business spread across the country and is today one of the leading betting organizations in the world. It is operated by his son from Gibraltar, but it all began in Brighton.

Henry Cohen
18 Sep 1920, London
 
Henry Cohen started in the motor trade in Brighton. With his father and brother he built a chain of main car dealerships and petrol stations in Brighton & Hove, Portslade and Lewes.
A motor-boat enthusiast, he wanted to keep his boat nearer to Brighton and conceived the idea of building a marina in the early í60s. Its construction was a major feat of determination, energy and drive: the plan had to go through Parliament and the people of Brighton had to be polled for approval before it was allowed to go ahead. For many years it was the largest man-made marina built into the sea in the world and is still one of the biggest.
Not content with one marina, Cohen went on to create the London Marina in the Royal Albert Docks, with mooring for 500 boats. Unfortunately, the Port of London Authority realised the value of the land surrounding the boats, reclaimed the leases from Cohen. It replaced the London Marina with London City airport and ëDocklandsí.
Cohen then built a marina in Den Helder, Holland, based on several ëmini lakesí surrounded by houses with moorings in their gardens. This is a design that has subsequently been copied throughout Europe.
Brighton Marina was his legacy to the city and it is fitting that he should have a place on the Brighton Walk of Fame, at Brighton Marina.

William Friese-Green
7 Sep 1855, Bristol
 
William Friese-Greene is known as the Father of the Motion Picture. He was one of the earliest film pioneers and is credited with inventing and patenting the first moving picture camera in London in 1889-90.
He lived at 20 Middle Street, Brighton after 1905 and it is here that he probably carried out many experiments related to the development of colour cinematography. Between 1889 and 1921 he patented 70 inventions including coloured prints, X-rays, inkless printing and the electrical transmission of images.
But his livelihood was never very lucrative and he died a pauper in 1921. Ironically, on the hour of his funeral, all the cinemas in Britain held a two-minute silence out of respect for this amazing inventor.
In 1951, the British Film Industry produced the film The Magic Box, a chronicle of Friese-Greeneís life. Robert Donat played Friese-Greene and supported by Richard Attenborough, Michael Redgrave, Peter Ustinov, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Grenfell and Margaret Rutherford. The most famous cameo is Laurence Olivier who plays the astonished policeman who witnesses Friese-Greeneís first triumph.

David Land
22 Mar 1918, London
 
David Land played a vital role in the theatrical history of Brighton as owner of the Theatre Royal for over eleven years. He purchased the famous playhouse in 1984 and proceeded to transform it into a premiere south coast venue bringing the greatest performers and directors to the town. He established the David Land Arts Centre and Studio Theatre to provide rehearsal and workshop production space for professional and amateur companies. On most weekends he escaped from London to his house in Rottingdean to be near his theatre.An unpretentious, warm and funny man, he started producing concerts in 1945. Some of his more unusual clients included the Harlem Globetrotters and the Dagenham Girl Pipers, one of the most unlikely cabaret acts of all time with credits around the world including a long run in Las Vegas.
In 1969 his business partner Sefton Myers sent him an album by a pair of young writers called Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. It was called Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Land immediately signed them to a three-year contract and after a year of writing full time they had produced Jesus Christ Superstar.
In 1971 Land forged a new partnership with Robert Stigwood and together they presided over the British dominance of musical theatre with world-beating shows such as Superstar and Evita. He won a string of Novellos, Tony`s and New York Drama Desk awards and was chairman of the Young Vic from 1983-1991. In 1994 Sussex University awarded him a Doctorate of Letters in recognition of his contribution to the artistic life of the county.

Anita Roddick OBE
23 Oct 1942, Sussex
 
Anita Roddick opened the first The Body Shop in Brighton in 1976. The company went public in 1984 and by then Anita and her husband Gordon, had not only built a successful plc but also a company that provided a platform to campaign on environmental and human rights issues.
The Body Shop has outlets all over the world and is one of the most recognised hair and skin care brands. Founded on the idea that big business can be combined with social responsibility, respect for human rights, protection of animals and the environment, and community trade, Anita Roddick continues to identify and highlight examples where people and communities are being exploited by multinational corporations. She campaigns with the people and on their behalf.
Anita is a Non-Executive Director of The Body Shop, a Trustee of The Body Shop Foundation and a Board Director of the Ruckus Society, a non-violent lobbying group. She is involved in campaigns aimed at, for example, the World Trade Organisation, Exon-Mobil and is investigating human rights abuses in sweatshops from Central America to Bangladesh.

Ben Sherman
1925, Brighton
 
Ben Sherman, son of a Brighton shop owner, first opened a small factory in West Street Brighton in the 1950s, employing 10 people and manufacturing men`s shirts.
In 1963, his company took on his name and produced the first of the now famous button-down collared shirts. They very quickly became the shirt to wear for youth movements of the day, particularly Mods who reckoned you weren`t a real Mod unless you owned a Ben Sherman. Pop and rock groups also adopted the look and The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who and The Kinks were all fitted out in Ben Sherman. More recently Blur and Oasis as well as Fatboy Slim, Moby, and Bare Naked Ladies have all been seen wearing the brand.
Sherman left the company in 1975 and moved to Australia.

Magnus Volk
19 Oct 1851, Brighton
 
Magnus Volk spent most of his life in Brighton working on inventions and introducing new ideas to the town. He demonstrated the first telephone link in Brighton in 1879 and the following year connected the first residential fire alarm to the fire station. By 1880 he had installed electric lights in his house and over the next four years fitted them to the Royal Pavilion and the Dome, as well as the museum, art gallery, library and Pavilion grounds.
His most famous invention is the Volk`s Railway. Running initially for 300 yards along Brighton seafront, it was the first public electric railway in Britain and opened in 1883. Many extensions and alterations followed and it went through times of neglect. Today it is owned and run by the city council and still transports local people and holidaymakers along the seafront from April to October.
Volk`s last appearance was in May 1937 at the opening of the new Volk`s Black Rock Station. A plaque at 128 Dyke Road has been erected in his honour.