Five famous things you might not know about Surbiton

The Pre-Raphaelite painters John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt came to Surbiton in 1851 and Millais used the Hogsmill River as the background to his painting of Ophelia 

 

 

Each year the town builds a giant children’s game in celebration of Lefi Ganderson (also known as Dan O’Brien), the mythical Goat Boy who is said to have lived as a hermit at the base of Mount Seething in Surbiton. The 2009 game can be seen on Youtube as ‘Giant Mousetrap – build and play’

 

 

Surbiton featured as the home of the ‘Goods’ in the classic BBC series The Good Life with Richard Briars and Felicity Kendall appearing as Tom and Barbara Good. This iconic comedy proved particularly prescient with its approach to suburban sustainability.

 

 Surbiton is official home to the international sport ‘Suburban Skiing’. This highly competitive event simply reverses the principle of skiing by strapping blocks of ice to competitors feet so they can ski anywhere.

Surbiton Ski Sunday is open for anyone to watch or if you want to take part you can email for instructions and a sponsorship form. The course will be sited on Surbiton Parade to the side of St Mark’s Hill and will provide a challenge for suburban skiers young and old.

 

Surbiton’s world famous clock tower was recently renovated and now quite regularly shows the correct time. But these are just five of strange elements that make up Surbiton life.