"Len Mosley writing for the ""Daily Express"" said that the film was more nauseating and depressing than the leper colonies of East Pakistan, the back streets of Bombay, and the gutters of Calcutta. Caroline Lejeune of ""The Observer"" wrote: ""It's a long time since a film disgusted me as much as ""Peeping Tom"","" ultimately deeming it a ""beastly film."" ""Peeping Tom"" earned a cult following in the years after its initial release, and since the 1970s has received a critical reappraisal. Powell noted ruefully in his autobiography, ""I make a film that nobody wants to see and then, thirty years"
"an ardent Protestant and sanitized the earlier story. The ballad ""Leoffricus"" in the Percy Folio (ca. 1650) conforms to Grafton's version, saying that Lady Godiva performed her ride to remove the customs paid on horses, and that the town's officers ordered the townsfolk to ""shutt their dore, & clap their windowes downe,"" and remain indoors on the day of her ride. The story of Peeping Tom, who alone among the townsfolk spied on the Lady Godiva's naked ride, probably did not originate in literature, but came about through popular lore in the locality of Coventry. Reference by 17th-century chroniclers has"
"from Chester to London"" (1782) recounted how ""the curiosity of a certain taylor overcoming his fear, he took a single peep"". Pennant noted that the person enacting Godiva in the procession was not fully naked of course, but wore ""silk, closely fitted to her limbs"", which had a colour resembling the skin's complexion. (In Chester's time around 1782 silk was worn, but the annotator of the 1811 edition noted that a cotton garment had since replaced the silk fabric.) According to the ""D.N.B."", the oldest document that mentions ""Peeping Tom"" by name is a record in Coventry's official annals, dating"
"to 11 June 1773, documenting that the city issued a new wig and paint for the wooden effigy. There is also said to be a letter from pre-1700, stating that the peeper was actually Action (pronounced Actæon?), Lady Godiva's groom. Additional legend proclaims that Peeping Tom was later struck blind as heavenly punishment, or that the townspeople took the matter in their own hands and blinded him. The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry maintains a permanent exhibition on the subject. The oldest painting was commissioned by the County of the City of Coventry in 1586 and produced by"
"as part of the Godiva Festival. The wooden effigy of ""Peeping Tom"" which, from 1812 until World War II looked out on the world from a hotel at the northwest corner of Hertford Street, Coventry, can now be found in Cathedral Lanes Shopping Centre. It represents a man in armour and was probably an image of Saint George. Nearby, in the 1950s rebuilt Broadgate, an animated ""Peeping Tom"" watches over Lady Godiva as she makes her hourly ride around the ""Godiva Clock"". From the mid-1980s a Coventry resident, Pru Porretta, has adopted a Lady Godiva role to promote community events"
"whatsoever"". A modified version of the story was given by printer Richard Grafton, later elected MP for Coventry. According to his ""Chronicle of England"" (1569), ""Leofricus"" had already exempted the people of Coventry from ""any maner of Tolle, Except onely of Horses"", so that Godiva (""Godina"" in text) had agreed to the naked ride just to win relief for this horse tax. And as a condition, she required the officials of Coventry to forbid the populace ""upon a great pain"" from watching her, and to shut themselves in and shutter all windows on the day of her ride. Grafton was"
"a church were built in Dunkirk. Journalists talked of the ignorance and moral degradation of the area. Feargus O'Connor suggested a monument should be erected in memory of Courtenay's followers. John Nichols Thom John Nichols Tom (sometimes spelt Thom; 1799 – 31 May 1838) was a Cornish wine-merchant and maltster who re-invented himself as Sir William Courtenay, stood for parliament in Canterbury, was convicted of perjury in a smuggling case, spent three years in the Kent County Lunatic Asylum, and, following his release, gathered a small band of followers and paraded in the Kent countryside. He, using the title ""Sir"
"in the county named Norton. ""Juxta"" is Latin for ""near"", and Twycross is a small village approximately 2 miles southeast of Norton. The village of Norton is thought to have been founded in the 8th or 9th century by the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon King Æthelred granted the village a charter in 951, referring to it as ""Northton"" The village is listed in the Domesday Book as ""Norton"", and the Lord of the Manor was recorded in both 1066 and 1086 as Countess ""(Lady)"" Godiva, widow of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, famed (legendarily) for riding naked around the streets of Coventry."
"2005, Coventry became the first city in the UK to host the International Children's Games and three of the city sports teams won significant honours. The Blaze won the treble consisting of Elite League, playoff and Challenge Cup; the Jets won the BAFL Division 2 championship and were undefeated all season; and the Bees won the Elite League playoffs. Coventry is well known for the legendary 11th century exploits of Lady Godiva who rode through the city naked on horseback in protest at high taxes being levied on the cityfolk by her husband Leofric, Earl of Mercia. The residents of"
"Whipping Tom ""Whipping Tom"" was the nickname given to two sexual attackers in London and the nearby village of Hackney. Both would attack women walking alone and beat them on the buttocks. While there is some evidence that an earlier attacker in around 1672 was also nicknamed ""Whipping Tom"" and carried out similar attacks on women, the earliest recorded attacker of this nature was active in central London in 1681. He would approach unaccompanied women in alleys and courtyards and spank them on the buttocks, before fleeing. The inability of the authorities to apprehend the offender caused complaints about the"
"East Finchley, London. His publications also include: Thomas Stevens (cyclist) Thomas Stevens (born 24 December 1854, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England, died London, 24 January 1935, aged 80) was the first person to circle the globe by bicycle. He rode a large-wheeled Ordinary, also known as a penny-farthing, from April 1884 to December 1886. He later searched for Henry Morton Stanley in Africa, investigated the claims of Indian ascetics and became manager of the Garrick Theatre in London. Stevens, known as Tom, was born in Castle Street, Berkhamsted, the son of William and Ann Stevens. His father was a labourer. Thomas had"
"from the reign of Charles II (d. 1685). The same writer felt the legend had to be subsequent to William Dugdale (d. 1686) since he made no mention of it in his works that discussed Coventry at full length. (The story of the tailor and the use of a wooden effigy may be as old as the 17th century, but the effigy may not have always been called ""Tom"". See 1773 date below, and the alternate suggested name ""Action"".) W. Reader dates the first Godiva procession to 1677, but other sources date the first parade to 1678, and on that"
"year a lad from the household of James Swinnerton enacted the role of Lady Godiva. The English ""Dictionary of National Biography"" (""D.N.B."") gives a meticulous account of the literary sources. The historian Paul de Rapin (1732) reported the Coventry lore that Lady Godiva performed her ride while ""commanding all Persons to keep within Doors and from their Windows, on pain of Death"" but one man could not refrain from looking and it ""cost him his life""; Rapin further reported that the town commemorates this with a ""Statue of a Man looking out of a Window."" Next, Thomas Pennant in ""Journey"
"Queen"" was led to the sacred Cofa's tree, perhaps to celebrate the renewal of spring. The oldest form of the legend has Godiva passing through Coventry market from one end to the other while the people were assembled, attended only by two knights. This version is given in ""Flores Historiarum"" by Roger of Wendover (died 1236), a somewhat gullible collector of anecdotes, who quoted from unnamed earlier writers. Other attempts to find a more plausible rationale for the legend include one based on the custom at the time for penitents to make a public procession in their shift, a sleeveless"
"Godiva Procession The Godiva Procession is an annual procession in the city of Coventry, England, which re-enacts the story of Lady Godiva. They have been held in Coventry since the 17th century. The first written record of the Godiva Processions is in the Coventry City Annals of 1678. These celebrate and re-enact Godiva's legendary naked ride through Coventry, undertaken to persuade her husband to free the people of the city from the burden of oppressive tolls. Although Godiva certainly existed, the historicity of the ride itself is debated. Godiva, or Godgifu, meaning 'God's Gift', was the wife of Leofric, Earl"
"Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford (19 February 1775 – 10 March 1804) was a British peer, naval officer and wastrel, best known for bedevilling George Vancouver during and after the latter's great voyage of exploration. Pitt was born at Boconnoc, Cornwall, the only son of Thomas Pitt, 1st Baron Camelford and Anne Wilkinson (Lady Camelford). He had a sister, Anne. His early years were spent in Switzerland. He was later educated at Charterhouse School. He spent a number of years there which he regarded as the happiest of his life. Having developed a love of"
"been claimed, but all the published accounts are 18th-century or later. According to an 1826 article submitted by someone well-versed in local history and identifying himself as W. Reader, there was already a well-established tradition that there was a certain tailor who had spied on Lady Godiva, and that at the annual Trinity Great Fair (now called the Godiva Festival) featuring the Godiva processions ""a grotesque figure called Peeping Tom"" would be set on display, and it was a wooden statue carved from oak. The author has dated this effigy, based on the style of armour he is shown wearing,"
"with that expressed of her before the hoax was revealed and may indicate an overall strategy to disempower Toft completely. This is reflected in one of the most notable satires of the affair, Alexander Pope and William Pulteney's anonymous satirical ballad ""The Discovery; or, The Squire Turn'd Ferret"". Published in 1726 and aimed at Samuel Molyneux, it rhymes ""hare"" with ""hair"", and ""coney"" with ""cunny"". The ballad opens with the following verse: Notes Bibliography Mary Toft Mary Toft (née Denyer; c. 1701–1763), also spelled Tofts, was an English woman from Godalming, Surrey, who in 1726 became the subject of considerable"
"Widecombe Fair (song) ""Widecombe Fair"", also called Tom Pearce (sometimes spelt ""Tam Pierce""), is a well-known Devon folk song about a man called Tom Pearce, whose horse dies after someone borrows it to travel to the fair in Widecombe with his friends. Its chorus ends with a long list of the people travelling to the fair: """"Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Davy, Dan'l Whiddon, Harry Hawke, Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all""."" Some research suggests that the names originally referred to real people. As the last name in a long list, ""Uncle Tom Cobley"" has come to be"
"innocent"", it would not, they declared, ""be esteem'd indecency for him to walk naked unto his habitation"". Three days before the pretended resurrection the government, fearing disturbances, and to prevent any tricks being played, placed guards at the grave and about the cemetery. Thomas Emes Thomas Emes (died 1707), known as ""the prophet"", was a quack doctor and millenarian who practiced as a surgeon among the poorer classes of England. In the hope of obtaining notoriety he allied himself with the Camisards. He died at Old Street Square, London, 22 December 1707, and was buried on Christmas Day in Bunhill"
"from British tradition, King Cole, may have been based on a real figure from Sub-Roman Britain. Many of the tales and pseudo-histories make up part of the wider Matter of Britain, a collection of shared British folklore. Some folk figures are based on semi-historical or historical people whose stories have been passed down the centuries; Lady Godiva for instance was said to have ridden naked on horseback through Coventry, Hereward the Wake was a heroic English figure resisting the Norman invasion, Herne the Hunter is an equestrian ghost associated with Windsor Forest and Great Park (whose tale bears the common"
"and immediately noticed that various kinds of pie were customary; he feared that devilly pie might be the next kind so returned to Devon. This legend is set to music in the traditional Cornish folk song Fish and Tin and Copper. The legend behind the name involves a nymph by the name of Tamara, who lived in the underworld. Tamara wanted to wander freely in the mortal world, against the advice of her parents. One day, wandering in Dartmoor, she happened to meet two giants called Tavy and Torridge (or Tawradge). Both giants became smitten with Tamara and vied for"
"Thomas Dover Thomas Dover, M.D. (1660–1742), sometimes referred to as ""Doctor Quicksilver"", was an English physician. He is remembered for his common cold and fever medicine Dover's powder, his work with the poor in Bristol, and his privateering voyage alongside William Dampier and Woodes Rogers that rescued castaway Alexander Selkirk, the real-life inspiration for Robinson Crusoe. Thomas Dover was born in Barton-on-the-Heath in 1660, into what historians have called a ""distinguished but rebellious"" family. His great-grandfather William Cole had been President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford during the reign of Mary I of England but was expelled for displaying Protestant"
"man named Thomas Wallis was captured and confessed to the attacks. According to Wallis, he was ""resolved to be Revenged on all the women he could come at after that manner, for the sake of one Perjur'd Female, who had been Barbarously False to him"". He claimed that his plan was to attack a hundred women before Christmas, cease the attacks during the Twelve Days of Christmas, then resume the attacks in the new year. Whipping Tom ""Whipping Tom"" was the nickname given to two sexual attackers in London and the nearby village of Hackney. Both would attack women walking"
"appear ghastly white, With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Davy, Dan'l Whiddon, Harry Hawke, Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all, Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all. And all the long night be heard skirling and groans. All along, down along, out along lea. From Tom Pearce's old mare in her rattling bones, With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Davy, Dan'l Whiddon, Harry Hawke, Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all, Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all. Widecombe Fair (song) ""Widecombe Fair"", also called Tom Pearce (sometimes spelt ""Tam Pierce""), is a well-known Devon folk song about a"
"Thomas Stevens (cyclist) Thomas Stevens (born 24 December 1854, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England, died London, 24 January 1935, aged 80) was the first person to circle the globe by bicycle. He rode a large-wheeled Ordinary, also known as a penny-farthing, from April 1884 to December 1886. He later searched for Henry Morton Stanley in Africa, investigated the claims of Indian ascetics and became manager of the Garrick Theatre in London. Stevens, known as Tom, was born in Castle Street, Berkhamsted, the son of William and Ann Stevens. His father was a labourer. Thomas had an older sister, Bridget, and younger, Jane."
"town. Godiva took him at his word and, after issuing a proclamation that all persons should keep within doors and shut their windows, she rode through the town, clothed only in her long hair. In the end, Godiva's husband keeps his word and abolishes the onerous taxes. However, known facts do not corroborate the legend. Bishop Robert de Limesey transferred his see to Coventry ""c."" 1095, and in 1102 papal authorisation for this move also turned the monastery of St. Mary into a priory ""and"" cathedral. The subsequent rebuilding and expansion of St. Mary's was completed about 125 years later."
"Jerome of Sandy Cove Jerome (also spelled Jérôme) is the name given to an unidentifiable man discovered on the beach of Sandy Cove, Nova Scotia, on September 8, 1863. He was found with both legs cut off to stumps, and when questioned by locals he said very little, suggesting he did not speak English. When asked for his name he mumbled something that resembled ""Jerome"", and so that was what he became known as. He was found by an 8-year-old boy named George Colin ""Collie"" Albright, and brought to the Albright home in the village of Digby Neck to be"
"pubs closed, Friday and a friend, Rod Lewington, went to an all-night club called Churchill's where they could continue drinking. When they entered, Friday, wearing a long overcoat and hobnail boots, walked onto the dancefloor and removed the coat to reveal that he was wearing nothing underneath. He then began to dance, completely naked apart from the boots. Although Churchill's, described by Lewington as ""the worst club that has ever been in Reading"", tolerated such behaviour, the town's fashionable Sindlesham Mill nightclub did not, regularly barring Friday for his bizarre activities, including a dance he invented called ""the elephant"" which"
"Tom Cobley Tavern The Tom Cobley Tavern is a pub in Spreyton, Devon, England. It dates back to the 16th century, and may be the 1802 starting point of Uncle Tom Cobley and his companions for the journey to Widecombe Fair, in the well-known folk song. It was CAMRA's National Pub of the Year for 2006, and a finalist in 2012. The pub dates back to the 16th century, and was renamed in the 1950s to capitalise on Spreyton's connection to Uncle Tom Cobley. On the pub's website, it is stated that the famous song is based on a journey"
"tales such as ""Jack and the Beanstalk"" and ""Jack the Giant Killer"" helped form the modern perception of giants as stupid and violent, while the dwarf Tom Thumb is a traditional hero in English folklore. English fairy tale ""Goldilocks and the Three Bears"" is one of the most popular fairy tales in the English language. Some folk figures are based on semi- or actual historical people whose story has been passed down centuries: Lady Godiva, for instance, was said to have ridden naked on horseback through Coventry; the heroic English figure Hereward the Wake resisted the Norman invasion; Herne the"
"but were unpopular amongst the local residents due to their snobbish attitudes. Tom, apparently the only child of Thomas and Mary, indulged in the typical pursuits of the upper class in the first half of the twentieth century, socialising with attractive women of his class, riding horses, and enjoying his status in the town. Rowling revealed in ""Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"" that young Merope Gaunt made efforts to get as close to Tom as she could, peering at him through the windows and bushes at every opportunity. Morfin noticed his sister's affection for Tom and hexed him as"
"of issuing a warrant declaring that the constables of 11 surrounding towns, including Salisbury, were to carry out public whippings of the three women. After they were transported in a cart to Salisbury, the third town of the 11, they were set free by the local authorities, which included Thomas Bradbury, Walter Barefoote, and Pike. While historians are uncertain as to some of the details, it is believed that Pike was the local constable and he deputised an eager Barefoote, who then ""misused"" his authority to free the women. In any case, over 200 years later, the Quaker poet John"