Read the following texts about seafront escapes. Decide what word should be used in the gaps 1-15. ONLY ONE WORD in each gap. -- Sun, Sand and Tradition: Exploring Britain’s Seafront Escapes Adapted from Britain Magazine, July 2021, “Beside the Seaside” .......... Relaxing in a brightly coloured deckchair with warm sand curling around your toes; exploring rock pools, combing the shoreline, swimming or trying your hand at surfing. The unmistakable scent of fish and chips drifting along the promenade is impossible to resist, and who really minds if the candyfloss leaves your fingers sticky? As the old music-hall tune reminds us, we truly “do like to be beside the seaside”. Our fondness 1.) .......... plunging into salty waves and sculpting sandcastles seems almost hardwired into us. Yet, for a nation surrounded by water, it is striking how long it took us to recognise the coastline’s potential for leisure. The great British seaside holiday only came into its 2.) .......... in the 18th century, when people gradually shifted from “taking the waters” at inland spa towns to embracing the newly fashionable practice of sea bathing. Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast, long established as a mineral spa, claims the title of Britain’s first seaside resort. 3.) .........., it was the Dorset town of Weymouth that gained exceptional royal prestige after King George III—acting 4.) .......... medical advice that sea bathing might ease his ailments—spent fourteen summers there between 1789 and 1805. Transported into the sea in a bathing machine—essentially a wheeled beach hut that allowed bathers to undress discreetly—George took his inaugural dip with commendable courage. “Imagine His Majesty’s astonishment,” one member of the royal entourage wrote, “when, the moment he ducked his royal head under the water, a hidden band in a neighbouring machine struck up ‘God save great George our King.’” You can still admire a replica of the royal bathing machine on Weymouth’s esplanade, where elegant Georgian terraces and a statue of the king stand 5.) .......... reminders of the resort’s early heyday. The town remains a firm favourite, its sweeping bay and soft golden sands continuing to enchant generations of bucket-and-spade-carrying families. Yet the most remarkable royal contribution to Britain’s coastal architecture lies further along the shore in Brighton. It was here that George III’s son—later George IV—was urged by his physicians to try seawater therapies; he fell so deeply in love with the town that he created the extraordinary Royal Pavilion, an exotic pleasure palace 6.) .......... anything else in Britain. In the early days, sea bathing was typically done without clothing, with “modest hoods” at the end of the bathing machines allowing bathers—assisted by attendants known as dippers—to slip discreetly into the water. Even once people began wearing generous, full-length bathing costumes, several resorts continued to separate men and women on different stretches of the beach. From the mid-19th century onwards, the expanding railway network, paired with the Bank Holidays Act of 1871 (covering England, Wales and Ireland), transformed coastal towns into magnets for eager day-trippers. Newly granted public holidays were enthusiastically seized 7.) .......... by the masses, who flocked to the seaside on special excursion trains promoted by enterprising railway companies. Although the supposed health-giving properties of sea air and salt water were still widely praised, it was the promise of entertainment—shows, promenades, amusements and the lively atmosphere—that truly captured the public’s imagination. Piers began to appear along Britain’s coastline, introducing a carefree mix of the refined and expensive with the gaudy and inexpensive, a combination 8.) .......... soon became emblematic— and irresistibly appealing—within the classic seaside experience. Originally serving as landing points for visitors arriving on paddle steamers, these structures also offered landlubbers the unusual thrill of “walking on water.” As the Victorian novelist William Makepeace Thackeray enthused about Brighton’s long-lost Chain Pier, “Here, for the modest fee of two pence, you may venture out over the sea and stroll along this immense deck without the slightest hint of seasickness.” Today, visitors can enjoy equally spectacular views from the Palace Pier, as well as funfair rides that are quite literally breathtaking. Eager not only to profit from landing charges and entrance tolls, pier owners rapidly discovered additional ways to relieve promenaders of their spare change, filling the walkways with food stalls, small shops, and roaming musicians. 9.) .......... the roughly 70 piers constructed during the four-decade boom beginning in the 1860s, the pier at Teignmouth in Devon (opened in 1867) distinguished itself early on by installing the first coin-operated “What the Butler Saw” peep-show machines. While Blackpool, Bournemouth and Brighton each proudly showcased three piers—every one appealing to a different strand of visitor—the Indian-style pavilion on Blackpool’s North Pier triggered a nationwide craze for extravagant pavilion construction. These ornate venues soon hosted concerts, grand balls and the quintessential end-of-pier variety shows. Blackpool, 10.) .......... home to all three piers today (now packed with high-adrenaline rides, entertainment venues and gaming arcades), has long been a pioneer of increasingly spectacular and flamboyant amusements. Its iconic Tower, inaugurated in 1894, along with its vast ballroom, circus, white-knuckle Pleasure Beach and the six-mile-long, world-famous Illuminations, set a benchmark for British seaside entertainment. During the 1890s, the resort also became one of the first 11.) .......... aggressively promote that notoriously teeth-testing confection: seaside rock. Graceful promenades became another hallmark of coastal towns that flourished during Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian times. To this day, elegant seafronts such as the palm-lined promenade in Torquay—proudly known as part of “England’s Riviera”—continue to captivate visitors. Bandstands carried music along the breeze; Eastbourne’s current structure, 12.) .......... from 1934, still holds the ambitious title of being “the busiest bandstand on planet Earth”. For those wishing to avoid unnecessary exertion on their coastal outing—whether in the past or today—cliff lifts offered an effortless descent to the water’s edge. Built in 1912 and measuring a mere 130 feet, the lift at Southend-on-Sea remains Britain’s shortest funicular railway (and the town also lays claim to the world’s longest pier, stretching an extraordinary 7,080 feet). At Saltburn, visitors can still glide gently down the cliff in Britain’s oldest operational water-balanced tramway, first opened in 1884. Once you reached the seafront, a whole array of dizzying amusements awaited you — 13.) .......... a leisurely donkey ride along the shoreline, a custom introduced in the late Victorian period, or the lively antics of a Punch and Judy show, rooted in Italian commedia dell’arte but delightfully reimagined for the British seaside. Showmen were everywhere, including stunt diver “Professor Davenport,” who astonished Edwardian crowds at Hastings Pier by plunging into the sea while enclosed in a burning sack. Accounts of his broader repertoire marvelled that “he dives while smoking cigars (…) which he resurfaces with still alight. He can also plunge from a bicycle, or even leap from a flying trapeze.” Stiff-collared ladies and gentlemen — as well as weary factory workers — soon surrendered to the liberating spirit of the coast. As the 20th century progressed, trouser legs were rolled confidently above the knee, heads were crowned with knotted handkerchiefs, and cheap, cheerful souvenirs and cheeky postcards became utterly de rigueur. Seaside holiday camps added their own eccentricities, including the famous knobbly-knees competitions, and — fortunately — swimwear gradually evolved from sagging woollen contraptions into garments far more suited to the water. Package holidays to warmer foreign destinations significantly reduced the popularity of British seaside breaks in the second half of the 20th century. However, the trend has shifted once again with the growing appeal of the staycation. This revival has 14.) .......... fuelled partly by the resilient British spirit—one that doesn’t shy away from a bit of rain—and partly by the remarkable variety of coastal getaways that are easy to reach, continually reinventing themselves while still offering the exhilarating sense of freedom that makes them so special. Today, travellers can head to Newquay in Cornwall for world-class surfing, enjoy classic bucket-and-spade holidays from Bournemouth to Tenby, soak 15.) .......... Brighton’s bohemian atmosphere, or admire the pastel beach huts of Southwold. Clacton in Essex boasts Europe’s largest pleasure pier and was named “Pier of the Year 2020,” while Dreamland in Margate brings vintage amusement-park magic back to life. Visitors can trace dinosaur footprints along Dorset’s dramatic Jurassic Coast, find peace on the Glamorgan Heritage Coast, or explore the wide sands and rolling dunes of Northumberland. All of these destinations—along with countless others—explain why the British still love spending time by the seaside.
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