The Planet Reigate Podcast
53: The new crime novel set in Reigate & Redhill, the local artist who was the centre of a huge forgery conspiracy… and more
Fri, 13 Sep 2024
Episode 53 – The new crime novel set in Reigate & Redhill, the local artist who was the centre of a huge forgery conspiracy… and moreFor Saturday 14th September 2024TIMECODE00:00 - What’s in this episode03:55 - Planet Reigate area news, sport and weather 23:00 – GUEST: Phil Hall, the local crime writer who sets his novels in Reigate and Redhill 38:00 - The Good Time Guide: Local places to go and things to do this week 42:30 – Planet Reigate Stars: thanking local heroes. This week from Reigate 43:20 – Sam’s story. The final part of the story of local artist Samuel Palmer. Last week, his most famous work, of a view you know so well even to this day. Also last week, his death. This week, an horrific fire, a major crime, and how we still remember him to this day. 49:55 – The Sixty-second Soundscape. Natural sounds from a place you know. This week a reed warbler at Holmethorpe Lagoons. If you get value from The Planet Reigate Podcast, please give us value back in return; click here to support us with a small donation: www.buymeacoffee.com/theplanetreigatepodcast or share us with your colleagues. *CREDITS:The seven-note Planet Reigate Theme is ©Peter StewartOther music www.Pond5.com:GTG - inspiringaudio Item ID: 116855857NEWS - ThomPie Item ID: 75456323STARS - jwsaudio Item ID: 073206386 WEATHER - Sasha_Grey Item ID: 025133085SOUNDSCAPE PolkadotFlowersMusic Item ID: 136304431DRAGON fx - https://soundbible.com/ DRAMATIC - dramatic epic inspirational - Stock Music provided by Kiselev, from Pond5 – 052997125 PALMER 3 - inc CLASSIC, light Vic and YT link in script ud Listen: https://linktr.ee/PlanetReigatePodcast Web: www.ThePlanetReigatePodcast.com Facebook: www.Facebook.com/ThePlanetReigatePodcast Insta: theplanetreigatepodcast X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/PlanetReigateEmail: [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This is the Planet Reigate podcast.
And this is Peter Stewart bringing it to you. Episode 53. Hello. Welcome to this week's show. And this is how we're reflecting and celebrating our love of life around here. Hope you're well, by the way. My guests this week. Now, when Phil Hall found himself without work after an horrific accident, he took a creative writing course. Fast forward.
and he's now got three crime novels on his shelf and on Amazon. And they are uniquely set in and around the Planet Reigate area, mentioning a bit like us, local places that you know and love. Hear more from Phil later. And we continue our mini-series on the life of Samuel Palmer, local artist who became world famous, including a huge forgery conspiracy as well.
Got quite a bit of crime on this week. Also in our news this week, how to quiz the Chief Constable, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey and Reigate's Borough Commander. Find out more about what's happening in Redhill at a meeting this week. Fed up with noise from Gatwick? I'll tell you how you can get to sit in on the Noise Management Board.
I'll tell you how Stripey Stork is going electric. How you can taste the area's new bottles of community wine. Yeah, volunteers are wanted to sow wildflower seeds locally. Keep listening for details. How to help out at an eco area at Carrington School this weekend. A local farmer is after some grazing land. That's a bit unusual, isn't it?
And he's going to pay you for it or 5,000 ewes will go hungry. A top tip for cheap bus travel for young people in your life. And if you're in business, hear about a free local talk with someone who can help you get more sales and more satisfied customers. Plus, we've got more top tips on how to run Rygate from Rygate Priory Athletics Club.
And in the local weather stats, we'll look back at the summer that wasn't and the wet start to September. Plus, we've got our good time guide of events across the area across the week ahead. Planet Rygate stars from Rygate And our 60-second soundscape before we go at the end of the show, natural sounds from a place you know, this week from Holmthorpe Lagoon.
This is the Planet Reigate podcast with Peter Stewart.
And welcome, as I say, to episode 53, which means last week was episode 52, nothing escapes me, and it was our anniversary edition. Thanks for all of your messages of support on social media and through to us here in the studio, saying happy birthday, really appreciated.
And also to those who've taken the opportunity to take part in our survey, asking you what you like about the Planet Reigate podcast.
the features and so on and any changes you'd like to see and of course we've taken those on board so you may notice a bit of a refresh to the show from this week onwards thank you to loveworks featured them in our anniversary edition and they were kind enough to say have a listen to the loveworks interview on the planet reigate podcast you'll get an insight into what we do and how you could help happy anniversary to the podcast
And thanks for having us on. Thanks very much indeed for making us so welcome when we went down. Featured Cyclocross Reigate a few weeks ago. And again, getting great support from Sean. This podcast is so worth supporting. Vital for its energy, history and information for our area.
happy birthday sean i appreciate that thanks so much nick says just listen to the podcast well done for producing such an interesting piece and christina said thanks for mentioning our singing workshop much appreciated i'm really enjoying your show and asking friends and family to sign up Good time, guys. We'll be here a little bit later on in the show.
But first of all, here's an update on some things that you may not have caught over the past few days. And you've got the chance to have your say on crime and policing issues coming soon. Yes, Surrey's Police Chief Constable, Tim DeMeyer, and Police and Crime Commissioner, Lisa Townsend, have got events in all 11 boroughs in the county over the autumn and winter.
And then they've got a final meeting online in January. So do you want to go along and ask them about crime in... In our area. So, it's Rygate, Redhill and Merstham. Obviously, Buckland, Betchworth, Brockham, you've got one for Mole Valley. But the one for Rygate, essentially, Rygate and Banstead Borough, is at 6.30 through till 8 o'clock, October 7th, Banstead Community Centre.
Yes, up over in Banstead. So, obviously, if you go up there, do be aware of the dragons, obviously. And they're going to be joined by the local borough commander responsible for local policing across Reigate and Banstead as well.
So if you've got anything you want to talk about, might be roads, violence against women and girls, how police resources are being used visibly and behind the scenes as well to boost the fight against crime in Surrey. What else specifically has been coming up? Well, you would know pinch points around the area where you're concerned are
about maybe violent behaviour or where you feel a little bit nervous. You may also want to ask about moving the regional headquarters, the district headquarters from Rygate over to Leatherhead, which is happening. You may want to ask about what is happening about Rygate Police Station actually as a building. let alone who's going to be working there and where that is going to be in the future.
Yeah. Or what's going to be on that. You get the idea. It's free, but you're encouraged to register. And the virtual event that I said is going to be taking place on January the 13th. And that's going to be streamed live on Facebook. If you want a link for details about how you can get involved, then get in touch with me and I'll put you in touch with them.
OK, a few business events to tell you about. This Wednesday, there's the meeting of the Redhill Business Guild. It's at 5.30 at the light in Redhill. Now, you can't just rock up because obviously they need to know numbers and you also need to be a member of the Redhill Business Guild.
But if you think that you would like to become a member, then I've got some details that I can pass on in a few moments time for contacts. Now, speakers at this month's programme are going to be Cath Rose from Riker to Bantsley Borough Council to discuss the council's five-year corporate plan.
So essentially, that's going to be where they're spending their money, any building that's going to go up, anything that's going to be refurbed. They're going to be talking across the board about the whole infrastructure of the area. So if you want to go along and hear a little bit more about that, Then Kath is going to be talking.
Kay Hymas is going to be talking about the Arts Takeover week, which we spoke about in some detail in last week's edition. Andy Nash will be there from the Belfry to give us an update about the stores which have opened up there recently and also... Any rumours, anything he's got which he can tell us about the former Marks & Spencer store.
Guy and Kate, if you don't know who they are, they're from Flores Cafe in Memorial Park, of course. Isabel Wooden from the council talking about Safer Redhill. We're back to crime. And James Baird, who's introducing his new business, which is going to be at Priory House.
Now, to reserve your place, redhillbusinessguild at gmail.com if you'd like to know a little bit more about that and if you'd like to have your name. on the front desk. Talking about which, let me tell you about the business networking group RH Networking. And as its name might suggest, that's for all of the area which has an RH postcode. They've got a special event coming up soon.
You are invited. It's an evening with Denise Hampson. Let me tell you a little bit about Denise. If you don't know who she is, maybe the name will ring a bell. She's a former track cyclist. She's currently CEO of the behavioral design agency, Desire Code. Now you probably like me when I first came across this thinking, what is a behavioral design agency?
And what's this got to do with my shop, business or service? Well, Denise says, humans are intriguing. Don't I know. You can't read them, can you? Or maybe you can. Denise says, we aren't the calm and rational people we imagine ourselves to be. Instead, we live our lives heart first and make our decisions based on super fast instinctive mental shortcuts.
Behavioural economics is the study of the hidden forces that influence our daily behaviour and decision making. And... As you can understand, applying that knowledge as a set of design principles leads to products, services, experiences and campaigns that are more appealing to customers. I get it.
So if you know how a customer thinks, what they're looking for in a brand, how you can persuade them... that what you're selling them is what they want. Don't mean an underhand way, but you're playing to how they think, how they behave. But you've got to know that, haven't you? That's the same kind of design principles as you'd have for a logo design or designing a product.
or the information that you're going to have on a website. If you know that, you're going to be more appealing to them. You're not tricking them, but you're making something more appealing. It's going to lead to more sales, isn't it? So if you want to sell more, have more satisfied customers and so on, then you need to go along, don't you? So how do you do that? It's at Reigate Manor on the 26th.
You can grab a free ticket via info at rhnetworking.co.uk. Tell them you heard about it on the Planet Reigate podcast. And you can perhaps go along either for a taster or you may think to yourself, after Dan has spoken to you, you may think, actually, yeah, this is something I want to be involved with months going forward as well. Got a message in from Gatwick Airport. Now, bear with.
We don't usually do Gatwick stories as a rule because it falls outside our area. But they got in touch with me and they said, Peter, genuinely, would you be interested in this? We've heard about the podcast, haven't approached you before, but this is something which is going to be of interest.
to people who live in the area so we wouldn't normally do as a sake out week story as if it's about i don't know a new airline starting up or something like that or a new shop at the north terminal not of interest but what is of interest is if something happens at the airport huge local employer which is affecting us living in the planet reigate area so we're
London Gatwick are recruiting new members of their noise management board. So yeah, obviously noise travel. So this is going to be of interest to you. If you live near the airport, Hawley, Charlewood, maybe further afield, can't go almost anywhere in the Planet Reigate area before you hear a plane passing overhead, either a light one from the aerodrome or a heavier one. in or out of Gatwick.
So the Noise Management Board, that is people who help to shape the airport's aircraft noise management plans. They want more community members, people like you, yes. You'll be working alongside reps from the Department for Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority, to discuss key issues of concern around the impacts of aircraft noise
across the whole area the community assembly meets online once a quarter to help develop projects and local residents will have the opportunity to go to the oversights boards quarterly meetings and you'll be able to ask questions of london gap week industry partners the department for transport and the civil aviation authority as well do you want to sign up is this of something of interest
Does noise from the airport get your goat? Gatwick NMB. NMB? Noise Management Board. So gatwicknmb.uk at aegis-group.com. Aegis is E-G-I-S. And the subject line has got to be new member inquiry. I'll give it to you all again. GatwickNMB.uk at EGIS-group.com. Subject line, new member inquiry. Congratulations to Stripey Stork. The local baby bank has its first fully electric van.
Yeah, it's a Ford Transit made possible with the generous support of Raven Housing Trust. And obviously, it means it's going to be easier for them to take their donations to families in need. Across Surrey and further still, since September last year, Stripey Stork has provided support to 10,400 families. Not individuals, families.
I mean, there's perhaps going to be a couple of three kids in each family. And that's up from 8,443 in the same period last year. So it's a growing problem. They've got seven delivery hubs. I thought it was just one. Yeah? Seven. And a new one in Croydon is set to launch soon. They serve 13 other locations across the region, not just in Reigate, Redhill, Merston, Buckland, Betchworth, Brockham.
Deliveries are scheduled Monday to Thursday each week. They've also got to go around and move things between sites, collect donations from people as well. So look out for the logoed van across the area from Stripey Stork. The community wine vicinity is now being served at the Castle Inn pub and restaurant at Outwood.
Now, if you don't know what community wine is, well, it's all via the secret walled vineyard. We've mentioned them on the show before. And the idea is that it's a community wine project and they produce white and rosé wine from their vineyard and garden grapes from the community, as you might expect.
kind of work out from the name so the idea is that if you've got grapes growing in your garden you take them along and they crush the grapes which reminds me who who had the catchphrase oh i could crush a grape who was that um that it was um
stew francis wasn't it on crackerjack crackerjack thank you gotta be of a certain age uh so if you want to try that vicinity wine it's at the castle inn pub and restaurant at outwards sometimes it's therapy doing this show to hawley to hawley here we go we're going to stay with things outside because samantha meering
07796 693423 07796 693423
We're staying outside Carrington, the school. They've got an incredible natural peaceful sanctuary. They call it the eco area and they've got it to support learning across the curriculum and especially in the forest school. And they ask, have you got a couple of hours you can help?
With our big eco clear up, it's happening this Sunday the 22nd with staff and volunteers from Rygate Area Conservation. They're going to be there from 10 in the morning till 4 in the afternoon. And they say you are welcome, please, please, to come along for any amount of time you can help, you can spare to contribute.
and help keep this magical and valuable space in good shape for our learners, you can contact jeverett, E-V-E-R-E-T-T, at carringtonschool.org for more information, or just go along and join in on the day. Sunday is the day between 10 and 4. We're going to stay outside because this is a really intriguing story. I've never done anything like this on the show before.
William has written to me, due to continued expansion of our regenerative grazing business, we're looking for new landlords to create grazing agreements with. Essentially, they're after some grazing land with a twist. So do you have winter and summer grazing land, grass, cover crop, anything considered? But it could just be empty land.
It may just be soil at the moment because they say we'll supply the seed if needed and the water and the fencing and the checks. It doesn't matter however big it is, all sizes considered. They will obviously pay you. But per head, per week, and that'll be paid monthly. And because they're good for the money, they'll give you some references available as well. All areas across the area considered.
07759 441 808.
07759441808.
It's funny, we still say a phone line, don't we? There's actually no line. It's all wireless. It's like the little icon for saving something on your computer is a floppy disk, isn't it? People of a certain age listening to this thinking, floppy what? Sorry. Did you know anyone aged 20 or under can apply for a link card, which gives 50% off all adult bus fares across Surrey?
Obviously, if you're a student, you're going to get free or cut price travel on buses anyway, as I understand it. But maybe you've started work and you haven't actually got that and you're still under 20. You can get a link card. It'll cut 50% off your adult bus fare. It's valid for three years. You've got to live in Surrey. Journeys should start or end in Surrey.
The card is valid 24-7 all year round. For more information via Surrey County Council, surreycc.gov.uk. And for more information, get in touch with me. I'll put you in touch with them. OK, all sorts of things to tell you about. Across the planet, Reigate area, our good time guide is up and coming in the not too distant future. Yeah, we haven't forgotten that.
We just moved it to somewhere else in the show. And also sports. Now, it's not too many days until Run Reigate 2024. Now, last week on the programme, we got some special advice, didn't we, from some experts in their field, quite literally, from Reigate Priory Athletics Club.
with some hints and some tips and some tricks about what to do when you start off, how you're going to finish, and how you're going to cope with the hills on that course. And this week, the story continues, with some more help, courtesy of the Planet Rygate podcast.
Hi, this is Linda Rodriguez-McRobbie from the Reigate Priority Athletic Club, and I'm here with Jack Boatwright from Movement Mechanics. We are talking about the Run Reigate race, and one of the big focuses in that is, of course, the hill at the end. How can we prepare for that? How can we activate our muscles beforehand?
Before the race, you want to be working on sort of hip flexion drills, putting a band around your feet and then standing, holding onto the wall and just driving your knee up towards your chest. You also want to work on some calf exercises, so hands on the wall, standing back slightly so you're at a slight angle and then driving up onto your toes.
Once you've done the race, what's a good way to stretch out afterwards?
A couple of stretches post-race that you'd want to work on. Hip flexor stretches, calf stretches, and then just sort of trying to mobilize your back. If this is like your first longer race, then definitely working on just doing some hip flexor glides after. So coming into a kneeling position and then just letting your body glide your knee over your toes.
And then just going through some more traditional calf stretches and lower back stretches. And as well, you could use your foam roller or your massage gun.
Finally, what would be sort of the best way to recover?
If it's one of your longer races for the first time in a while, or you're just new to running, or even if you are experienced, then taking a few days off post run is definitely a good idea. Making sure you get in lots of nutrition after the run. Eating and fueling after a run is one of the most important things ahead of all the stretching and recovery work that you do.
And then also making sure that you rehydrate a lot post race and the next couple of days as well.
And we've got our third and final part of that hints and tips series in next week's programme ahead of Run Reigate. On the way, we've got the Good Time Guide. Things to do, places to go, people to meet and things to do across the Planet Reigate area over the next seven days. Also continue our story about Samuel Palmer, local painter, local artist.
And the story about him and what happened to his legacy, an intriguing story that you may just remember if you're of a certain age, even though he died about 200 years ago. Still repercussions back in the 1970s, 1980s that may make you go, oh, yes, that was him. OK. We've got Planet Rygate stars in our 60-second soundscape as well.
First of all, let's look back at the weather from Professor Weather. He just sent me through some stats. Yeah, looking back on summer 2024. I say summer, wasn't much of one, was it? Below average rainfall and rainfall days. Fifth lowest on both. Bear with me on that. Below average temperatures, both minimum, maximum and average yesterday. Yeah, it wasn't much sun to talk about, was there?
In fact, below average sunshine hours. Basically below average then is what the prof is saying. And you're like me and you think to yourself, well, September's here and it's cold and I'm thinking about putting the heating on and I'm putting on an extra jacket when I go out and so on. Hold on, do we have summer? LAUGHTER
and with lot it has been really wet hasn't it now what you don't perhaps necessarily realize is that when you were listening to last week's show i actually was was out abroad in spain soaking up the sun and it was then when i was looking on the social media that i read but the back here there were some quite terrific storms and heavy rain and so on and uh last tuesday i 3.8 millimetres of rain.
And together with the rest of the rain so far in September 2024, it's now the wettest start.
to september that we've ever recorded in reigate according to professor weather stats 68 millimeters of rain so far compared to the average of 17.28 millimeters keep our fingers crossed for uh maybe maybe an indian summer that might be nice mightn't it the belfry shopping center red hill ditch the click for hassle-free local shopping in a welcoming environment
See, touch, smell and try before you buy and speak to real people who can advise you. The Belfry Shopping Centre, Redhill.
The Good Time Guide and the third and final instalment of Sam's Story still to come, plus Planet Reigate stars in our 60-second soundscape. But first, my main guest this week. When Phil Hall found himself without work after an horrific accident, he took a creative writing course. Fast forward and he's now got three crime novels on his shelf and up on Amazon.
And they are uniquely set in and around Reigate and Redhill. Mentioning a bit like us, local places that you know and love. Yeah, you can read the crimes and the detection that goes on to solve them. And you know the places that are being talked about.
I had a career with Kimberley Clark in numbers and finance, and then I had a really serious bike crash. Someone hit me from behind, knocked me over the handlebars. This was actually on Mid Street, where I live in Nutfield. Knew nothing about it, but he just sort of woke up almost, standing on my drive, bike beside me, covered in blood, and thought, oh, God.
And tipped her back into the house and my dear lady wife went, rushed me down to East Surrey Hospital. They took one look at me, took me straight through. Long story short, I was there for about 10 days and I smashed in a bit of the skull up here. And if it hadn't been for a bike helmet, I wouldn't be here today. So was that a bit of a life changing moment for you?
Did you kind of reappraise what you were doing and where you wanted to go? It didn't feel so at the time, but it's turned out that way because the recovery was six, eight months or so. And my wonderful company said, thank you very much. We found someone else to do your job. And yeah, in fairness, they gave me a bag of money and pushed me out the door. I was really miffed about that at the time.
But it did give me a chance to think, what am I going to do?
As they say, what's going to happen between now and dead?
Yeah, absolutely.
And especially if you were nearly dead anyway.
Then that kind of brings it to sharp relief, doesn't it? Yeah. And so I thought, well, I've always fancied trying to write a book. How hard can it be? You're talking to someone who's written six books, and I can tell you, it is very difficult. Yeah, it is quite a slog, isn't it? My first one would show. So I started with a writing course over at East Grinstead.
John Pye, the guy who runs a bookshop, who's been very good to me, actually, because he stocks my books. They ran a little course above it, and I did...
six eight ten weeks or so of writing courses and they then said okay well start writing so i started writing a standalone story which was a bit of a psychological thriller set it in lingfield eventually it was like i'm going to publish it get it out there because you can just keep revising and revising and revising and rewriting and editing and subbing yeah Absolutely, it goes on forever.
If you want it to go on forever, then it does. You need to write crime or romance if you want to sell stuff these days, because they're the things that people buy. So I thought, I'll create the new Morse and Lewis. I've got these two really good friends. One is a glasses-half-full guy and, you know, take on the world and... He's always happy, relentlessly happy.
And the other guy is really cautious. The glass is half empty. I'm not going to watch the match tonight because I know we'll lose. But the two together are really good opposites. And so I thought, I can take that basic character, obviously extend it and change it and develop it a little bit, and create two characters. They're my two leading detectives.
And then because I live in and around Reigate, I thought, well, that's the place to write about. Do your friends know that they were used? Oh, they do. They do.
So you've changed bits? I've changed little bits of it. But they say, don't they, write about things that you know, and it's easier to adapt a personality of a person that you're already familiar with than it is to come up with someone from scratch. Oh, absolutely. Couldn't agree more.
And also to be basing a story around an area you know, because then you've got the geography, you've got the buildings, you can describe things much more easily.
Oh, absolutely, yeah. I mean, the current one starts off with like a chase like you get at the start of a James Bond movie.
A giant earth-moving truck, overloaded with brown clods of earth, stopped in the centre of Reigate Town. DS Fran Itzkiewicz looked up and turned to DS Ron McTierney, who was walking alongside her. When out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a man grab a handbag from a middle-aged lady 50 yards further down the high street outside the M&S store.
A figure in a grey hoodie looked up and then dashed down the alleyway that led from the high street towards Priory Park. McTierney set off in pursuit, sprinting the first stretch. He was not as fit as perhaps he should have been. He visited the pub more often than he visited the gym. He reached the corner and began panting. The bag snatcher had reached the bottom of the slope.
The wind buffeted McTierney's face as he reached the end of the alleyway. On one side, the air vents at the back of M&S thundered in his ears. On his left, the brick buildings gave way and opened out to reveal a concrete wasteland stretching 200 yards across to the entrance of Morrison's supermarket.
A narrow road quickly split into two, one leading back around the store, the other skirted along the edge of Priory Park and provided a shortcut through to the western side of town. McTierney scanned the park horizon. No sign of the snatcher. And then, suddenly, a dark shape dashed across the road 150 yards ahead of him. McTierney began to run.
He reached a corner, stopped, and his eyes swept across the horizon. He wasn't even sure what gender the snatcher was. Black hair, shortish, probably male, probably a middle-distance runner. McTierney arrived at the front of the supermarket. The snatcher had turned the corner and was heading south up Cockshot Hill.
McTierney ran across the car park entrance and swung across the traffic lights on the junction.
I was walking it so you could pick up the sights and the sounds so you can describe it to people. Because you can't just say he ran down here and he ran down here and he ran down there. You've got to change it a little bit. But making it local means you can walk the area and feel it and sense it and then try and capture that idea when you put the story together.
So it is easier for you and it's faster, but also it's more authentic for the people who are reading it if they know the area. And if they don't, it doesn't matter anyway.
absolutely yeah and one or two people have said to me the thing they like about the books is the fact that they can relate to the area and they can walk this piece and they can walk that bit is that a bit tricky though in case somebody says well actually you got that wrong because if it's based on fact it's based on fact
Or you've never got anything wrong, I guess.
I'm sure I have. Things change. So one of the stories has a murder, takes place outside the Barclays Bank, which, of course, most listeners will know, used to be in the Hind of the High Street, but it's no longer there. So it dates the book a little bit.
And also you've got a problem, haven't you, that it makes things a bit more tricky if it's a murder mystery and you want to build something in that actually doesn't exist. then you can't actually put it in. If you've got a mythical town, you can suddenly invent a railway bridge, for example. But you can't in Rygate if that bridge doesn't exist where you want it to be.
Yeah, that can be a problem. But there is quite a lot of variety, so I state the books have been in the Surrey Hills, and I did that deliberately so that... It was Ryegate and Red Hill and all of the podcast area, but also some of the hills outside. So I've got quite a lot of variety to play with. Whilst I like to try and create and describe an area, I don't want anybody's house to have a problem.
So one of the stories features a fire and a house burns down. So you don't actually have a specific address for that? No, absolutely not. So that's based on an estate near Redhill, on the east side of Redhill. And I walked the estate so I could describe it and I got to know it very well. But when it came down to it, I picked a number that doesn't exist.
So you described a few moments ago about that chase that starts off at Marks and Spencer's, goes down to their delivery area, doesn't it? As though going down to the park. But we're not on the High Street now, are we? We're actually up at the Castle Grounds.
Tell me why that is. The body that features in the start of the story is discovered in the Baron's Cave, which is actually just underneath the Castle Grounds where we are now. And I chose that because... It's an interesting location to use and all the people I spoke to, nobody really knew very much about the Baron's Cave. Hardly anybody had been to visit it.
So last summer I walked up here and bought my ticket and spoke to the wonderful people at the Wilden Cave Society who gave me a little tour, showed me a few secrets and some stories which I've tried to sort of feed into the book as we go along. So as the detectives are solving the case, they're also telling a little bit of the story about the history of the Baron's Cave.
So people would recognise all of these places.
Now, you and I first met, although we didn't realise it at the time, at the Rygate Priory Lawn Tennis Club, didn't we? Is that featured?
It is, but not in this particular story, but that was in the very first story. That's the first one. I've got a series of three, and when I started writing about things I knew, I'd started playing tennis. So what better thing to do than kill off the coach? I've met the coach, yes, he's a nice guy. But you didn't call him Russell, did you? I did, actually.
Oh, you did?
I did, I did. Did he mind? No, he was very good about it. I let him read it, and he changed the surname, interestingly. But he was very happy about it, very good about it. I did write a nice chapter about him, which suggested he had a very good Wimbledon history, where he'd taken Roger Federer, who was his hero, taken a couple of sets off him before the rain...
came in in a Wimbledon of a few years ago so that was a bit of invention but yeah it went down really well with the tennis club and lots of tennis club people have like read the books and like them you see now I think your next novel number four should feature a young handsome podcast presenter
Which bit are you laughing at? The fact that I'm featured or the fact that I'm calling myself young and handsome?
Well, all of it, really. But it's interesting because you talk to people about murder stories and everybody wants to be in a story. Usually people want to be the murderer. I recently did a day with the vote in the polling stations, not for the general election, but for the local election, and I was thinking of setting one around that idea.
And I spoke to all the people there, and almost without fail, everybody was going, oh, yeah, yeah, I could be the murderer, I could be the murderer. People seemed to have this fascination about it. But, of course, they all want to get away with it, whereas you've got to have a happy ending, really. I was thinking more like an Eddie Shoestring kind of character. Do you remember Shoestring?
I do, then, but she was saying, yeah, yeah, yeah.
He was a kind of radio detective, wasn't he, on BBC One in the 1980s. Trevor Reeve? Trevor Reeve, yeah. Seriously, I'm not that old. I must have watched the reruns or something. That was it.
So how far ahead are you thinking of your next stories? I tend to do one a year, and I've got this idea around a ballot box murder, which I'm partly a little bit nervous about because... there'd been a couple of politicians who were killed in service. So I wanted to make it before they were a member of parliament.
And actually I thought of the idea a while ago, sort of like May time, hoping that the general election wouldn't be until like November, December, and then I could have it written. So it could come out like the next day. But of course it's happened already. Or the other idea I've got half an idea for is parkrun murder. Because I do a lot of parkruns and there is one in Reigate. And so the idea of,
a lot of rivalry in it because although it's meant to all be fun and games people who do it often will see that there's a certain undercount of people who want to be first so i'm thinking a lot of intricacy involved a lot of planning because you've got to have the red herrings you've got to have a
the cliffhangers at the end of chapters and so on you've got to make sure everything ties together at the end of the book so I'm imagining a wall at home in your office full of post-it notes and and those kind of those bits of string like they have on detective shows on the tv going from one post-it note to another and lots of photographs and maps
Yep, you're not wrong there. I get an A3 piece of paper and I start with the murder in the middle and I do a little spider map of this leads to so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so and then this does so-and-so and this person does that. And then I will map out the chapters and I will write underneath it
plot, and then Scott and Ron, my two leading detectives, and dialogue, anything clever I want to say in that particular chapter. And then I'll start to make a few notes in it, so I know roughly what's going to happen in each of the first six or eight chapters before I even start.
And then presumably work out that main thread of what happens and who did it and why and what the denouement is. You see, I know these words. I did A-level English. And then you put in the red herrings after that because they've obviously got a shorter lifespan, haven't they?
Yes, more or less exactly how it works. I went to a writer's conference where this guy was talking about not knowing who was the murderer until the end and creating four or five plausible killers because he felt otherwise his writing would give it away if he knew the answer. I've never been able to do that.
I always know the answer more or less when I start that it's going to be X or it's going to be Y. Then I'm building the red herrings around it as I go along kind of thing.
And then do you have someone else to kind of proofread it in case they say, well, hold on, you said in chapter two that they were wearing a yellow hat and actually in chapter 17 it turns out to be a blue hat.
I don't think any writer could get away without having a few of the proofreaders around. I've got a guy I actually went to school with when we were five. We started school together. A guy, Andy Lipson, now lives in Edinburgh. He was known as the walking encyclopedia at school. So we have a deal where he does my proofreading every year and I send him a bottle of whiskey. So it works really well.
Hold on, you're sending whiskey to someone in Scotland. Yeah, I know.
Okay, Phil, finally, here comes the plug. The new book is The Cave of Death. You can get them on Amazon if you search Phil Hall, The Cave of Death, or go to my website, which is philhallauthor.com, and you'll find links to them all there.
And indeed, The Cave of Death by Phil Hall is what I was reading around the pool in Spain last week. Thanks, Phil.
The Good Time Guide. Things to do and places to go on the Planet Reigate podcast.
And please remember to subscribe to the show so you don't miss an episode, and you can do that via your favourite podcast app. It may be called Favourite or Follow rather than Subscribe, but you get the idea. If you want a message for your charity or non-profit event, let us know about it. You can fill out the form you'll find at theplanetrygatepodcast.com.
So here we go with things which are happening across the area over the next seven days. This Saturday is Reigate Caves Open Day. You can go to reigatecaves.org.uk. Yes, and Barron's Cave is open as well, so beware in case you stumble across a body. Picnic in the Park is happening at Chulwood Recreation Ground on the streets on Saturday. All sorts of sports.
Bring your own blanket and chair and pack a picnic. Nutfield Gardening Society have their autumn show at the Village Hall. It opens to the public at 2.30pm. Raffle and prize giving at 4.30pm. South Park Sports Association have a trivia games night on Saturday from 8pm at Whitehall Lane. Win cash prizes, £2 a person, teams of six. On Sunday, it's the Skyline London to Brighton cycle ride.
Thousands of riders completing the challenging 55-mile ride from Clapham Common through Surrey down to the coast. Locally, look out for them on Cormungers Lane, Fullerswood Lane and Clay Lane via Kings Cross Lane and also Crab Lane continuing south on Prince of Wales Road. The new term for a kids' choir is starting up on Wednesday the 18th for 7 to 11-year-olds.
Wednesdays from 5, £20 for 30 minutes. And that's at the KSM Music Centre, RH2, 8BD, kingswoodsurreymusic.co.uk. Tea Time Tales Wednesdays, 3.25 to 3.55. Come and enjoy a drink and a biscuit and a Bible story and singing. All welcome at St Mark's Church on Alma Road. Teen Tap, Merston Primary School, Wednesdays 5.20am to 6pm.
On Thursday at Adams Gallery, it's something we've been talking about for the past couple of weeks, and the latest and final episode of our story comes up in a few minutes' time. It is the opening of an exhibition at Adams Gallery through until the 3rd of November of the life and work of Samuel Palmer and his meeting with William Blake 200 years ago. Adams Gallery is on the High Street in Reigate.
Carrington School have got an open evening Thursday the 19th, 5 till 8. Headteacher talks at 6 and 7 and open mornings and tours at 9 and 10.30. Open mornings also on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 9th and 10th of October. Book via carringtonschool.org. Donata School have got an open day on Thursday the 19th of September. Join them and learn about warrior learning.
Di dropped me a line calling amateur wind, brass and percussion musicians in Surrey. Are you looking for a local concert band to play with? Well, if you are, then Saturday is your day. They've got an open rehearsal with the band of the Surrey Yeomanry at St John the Evangelist in Redhill. Saturday 21st between 2 and 5.
Advance notice, the Rewind Wind Band, who featured previously on the Planet Rygate podcast, holding an open rehearsal. So if you play or used to play woodwind, brass, percussion, bass guitar or keyboards and fancy playing along with them, do go along. All skills welcome from beginners to rusty to experienced players. Thursday, the 3rd of October between 8 and 9.30pm. at the Salford Scout Hut RH1.
Rewindwindband at gmail.com. More advance notice. Tickets now on sale for the Hawley Lions Club Bonfire and Fireworks. It's a spectacular event on Saturday 2nd November, 5.30pm to 9pm at Hawley Rec. Guide price £6.95 for adults.
Planet Reigate Stars. Thanking local heroes who are out of this world.
And don't forget, all of our shows are archived via theplanetreigatepodcast.com. So let's hot foot it to Reigate. And the post office is the scene of this week's Planet Reigate Star Award. Because Joanna writes, there's a lovely new lady owner in the Church Street post office.
I get myself in a right old muddle with all the online techie postal stuff and it's taken me months to work out the queuing system. She is fabulously understanding and helpful. So if you are that lovely new lady who works at the Reigate Church Street Post Office, you are the recipient of this week's sprinkle of stardust.
The Planet Reigate podcast. Great stories from Reigate.
Our 60-second soundscape from the lagoons in a few moments' time. First of all, let me tell you a little bit more about that new exhibition at Adams Gallery in Reigate starting this week, as I mentioned a few minutes ago, celebrating the work of Samuel Palmer and William Blake. It commemorates their first meeting exactly 200 years ago. But who was Samuel Palmer? What...
were his links with the planet reigate area well last week i told you about his early career and how he and his family moved to reigate and red hill and his most famous work of a view you know so well even to this day also last week i told you about samuel's death this week in the third and final part of our look at the life and work of samuel palmer an horrific fire
a major crime, and how we still remember him to this day. So what was Samuel Palmer's legacy? He was largely forgotten about after his death. And in 1909, many of his works were destroyed by his surviving son, Alfred, who burned, quote, "...a great quantity of father's handiwork, knowing that no one would be able to make head or tail of what I had burned.
I wished to save it from a more humiliating fate." The destruction included sketchbooks, notebooks and original works and lasted for days. Interest in his work was, if you excuse the phrase, rekindled in 1926 by the Victoria and Albert Museum. Since when Palmer has been accepted into the canon of great English landscape painters.
He's said to have inspired many other artists, engravers and printmakers, including Graham Sutherland. All of the major museums and galleries hold collections of his work, including the V&A and the Ashmolean in Oxford. And there have been regular exhibitions of his paintings and etchings.
A significant retrospective was mounted jointly by the British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2005, 200 years after his birth, showcasing 170 of his watercolours, drawings, etchings and oils from public and private collections around the world. And an exhibition featuring Palmer ran in parallel to the huge William Blake exhibition at Tate Britain over 2019 and 2020.
In the 1930s, the maximum price of a Shoreham period drawing was around £50. Three sold in the early 1960s for around £6,000. In 2003, an auction at Christie's sold one for £587,000. And there was a big scandal in the 1970s when it was discovered that many of Palmer's works, 13, including one hung at the British Museum, were in fact fake.
Produced by the famous art forger Tom Keating, a picture restorer from Essex. Keating later claimed to have painted upwards of 80 fake Palmer's.
The elusive Tom Keating may have appeared in print, but so far there's no sign here at his cottage in Dedham of the yellow moped on which he's been touring the West Country.
Why does he distrust dealers? I mean, he talks about it as a war in his letters to the Times.
Well, note, who's made the money on the Palmer's? Tom maybe made a few hundred. Now everyone else has made thousands. I wonder if this is fair.
It's been said that if he indeed did fake the Palmers, then he must be the greatest faker of the century.
Oh yes, yes. I'm sure that if Tom faked anything, he would be the greatest faker of the century. Because his talent is beyond belief. I think he can paint in the style of anybody.
So, what more of Palmer and his links locally? Well, there's an unofficial blue plaque at Palmer's birthplace at Surrey Square in London. His Grade 2 listed house at Shoreham, near Sevenoaks in Kent, where he lived from 1827 to 1835, has a plaque on it. And I'm here on Palmer Close, which is a cul-de-sac in Redhill built in the 1960s. It was named in Samuel's honour.
So if you go up the A25 Nutfield Road out of Redhill, right down Redstone Hollow, it's just down here on the left. And his last home was here. The Chantry is what it's called today. Samuel Palmer knew it as First Hill Place. It's at Cronks Hill, just near High Trees Road. And it's Grade 2 listed because of the connection with Samuel Palmer.
And that was the life and legacy of local man Samuel Palmer, 1805 to 1881, landscape painter, etcher and printmaker, who created some of his greatest works while living locally. And on the 9th of October, 1824, Samuel Palmer visited William Blake at his home on the Strand, marking the start of a lifelong friendship and a significant inspiration for the young Palmer.
Adams Gallery on Reigate High Street is commemorating the event. with an exhibition featuring works by Palmer and Blake and artists influenced by them over the past 200 years. It starts this week and there are a couple of other events associated with that exhibition around the town over the next couple of weeks as well. So look on their website or pop into the gallery for more details on that.
Well, that's about it for this week. Join me next week on the show, won't you? If you want to get in touch with me between now and then, hello at the Planet Reigate podcast. It may be that you want help with emceeing an event, producing a podcast of your own. Perhaps I can share something or host something for you, or maybe do a voiceover for a video that you've got in production.
Again, hello at theplanetreigatepodcast.com. I'm Peter Stewart.
The 60-second soundscape. Local natural sounds uninterrupted.
Thank you.
The Planet Reigate podcast was produced and presented by Peter Stewart.