Our new office in Guildford has naturally prompted us to learn a little more about this throbbing Surrey metropolis. So now we present our ‘Top Five Things You Never Knew (And Probably Never Wanted To Know) About Guildford’:
1. Guildford Cathedral features in a number of key scenes in the classic 1976 horror film ‘The Omen’, starring Gregory Peck.
2. Ford Prefect, one of the heroes of Douglas Adams’ sci-fi blockbuster ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’, claimed to come from Guildford (but he actually came from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse).
3. Lewis Carroll, author of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and ‘Through The Looking-Glass’, owned a house in Guildford (although, like Ford Prefect, he never really lived here; he spent most of his time at Oxford University).
4. Many ghosts live in Guildford, though; spooky night-time walks are a regular part of tourist life (or should that be ‘after-life’?) in the town. (Despite having a cathedral, Guildford is not a city; you need a Royal Charter for that.)
5. Nonetheless, residents of Guildford enjoy one of the highest average life expectancies in the UK. Or does it just feel like a long time?
