h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Feel free to comment on this article. I haven't actually lived in Kingston for about 4 years and apart from the occasional quick visit I may be slightly out of date about current going's on like where's hot and where's not.

Hi DD It's good to see an article about KoT, I enjoyed it.. Being my home town I was going to do this but you've beaten me to it. oh well !
I'm reliably informed by two sons that good spots to go to are 'Options' a cinema/disco/bar complex and 'Volts' a disco/club in the town. Also 'Bacchus' a disco which is popular because it doesn't have a 'dress code'. Bars, try 'The Ram' in the High street and for a curry 'The Modern India' resturant in Coombe Rd off Kingston Hill which has been there since the '60s, so they can't be all that bad.
I bow to your knowledge of saxon kings but one thing though, Kingston claims seven kings crowned but I don't think Alfred the Great was one of them. You probably know already but they were: Edward the Elder 8 6 900, Athelstan 4 9 925, Edmund - - 940, Edred 16 8 946, Edwy - 1 956, Edward the Martyr - - 925 and Ethelred ii the unready 14 4 979.
I did get together some other info which you're welcome to use if you want. I'll put it up on a page and give you a ref to draw on if you want.
All the best A.M..

Cheers AM a lot of the places are still the same then I've been away 4 years having been to the Poly laterly Uni then living in KoT for a number of years post graduation. I'll add the info the entry. Write your own and submit it they'll probably but us down as co-researchers. As for Alfred I have cross referenced his coronation to be in either Kingston or Winchester, I'll go for Kingston, he get enough mentions for Winchester already, don't you think.

Hi Agin. I take it you're not in Kingston at the moment ?? but I hope you enjoyed your stay.
I don't think I'm supposed to submit another entry on top of yours but I'm happy to contribute anyway.
I'll get back when I've put it together A.M.

Write it I'll reference it and we'll let the sub editors work it all out.

My Grandparents used to live in Surbiton, and as Kids we used to go to Kingston as THE big shoping-outing (buying books and toys) at that big store Bentley´s(?). I went back there once, aprox. 4 years ago, and I thought the place was sooooo small, compared with my memory.

Thats the way it goes...

Kingston is too near the Mercia/Wessex border for King Alfred the Great to have been crowned at - but Athelstan definately was. I would expect Winchester to have been the place of Alfred's coronation, as he was king of Wessex, and the Winchester/Southampton twin-city was the religious and trading centre of Wessex. Kingston was on the Wessex/Mercia border, and later kings, such as Athelstan, were crowned at Kingston to symbolise that they were not just kings of Wessex, but also of Mercia and (from Edward the Elder and especially Edgar) all of England (although Edgar was crowned at Bath). On Edward The Elder's death, Athelstan had been accepted as king by Mercia, yet Wessex had supported Edward The Elder's son Alfweard. After Alfweard's defeat, Athelstan used Kingston to symbolise the Unification of the Kingdoms.

I can try and find out where the others were coronated.

The big shopping place was Bentalls and I think it is mentioned in the article.

YES, that´s it. And it realy is a childhood memory. Ooh, lovely times I spent in it´s halls, looking for puffin-paperbacks of Swallows and Amazons and finding Lego ever so cheep!

Bentall's years ago had a wonderful old wooden staircase (inside the main entrance, I believe) which is now gone.