In 1914, Billy Butlin was living in Toronto with his mother and stepfather, when he left school and began working for Eatons department store.

[web 2] The onset of World War I led to his leaving Eatons and enlisting in the Canadian Expeditionary Force serving in Europe, but seeing little if any action.

[news 1][notes 3] Butlin soon had fixed fairground sites as well as his travelling fair – the first was at Olympia in London outside Bertram Mills' Circus.

In 1925, he opened a set of fairground stalls in Barry Island, Wales where he observed the way landladies in seaside resorts would (sometimes literally) push families out of the lodgings between meals, and began to nurture the idea of a holiday camp similar to the one he had attended whilst an employee at Eatons.

[notes 5][web 4] One of the original 1936 chalet accommodation units is still present and is now a grade II listed building, recognising its historical significance.

An advertisement costing £500 (2011:£28,000) was placed in the Daily Express, announcing the opening of the camp and inviting the public to book for a week's holiday.

The advertisement offered holidays with three meals a day and free entertainment with a week's full board, at a cost of between 35 shillings (£1.75) and £3 (2011:£167.00), according to the time of year.

He asked Norman Bradford (who was engaged as an engineer constructing the camp) to take on the duty of entertaining the guests which he did with a series of ice breakers and jokes.

That night Butlin decided that for his camp to work he would require an army of people to carry out the same job as Bradford, and the role of Redcoat was created.

To operate as a military base, many of the bright external colours were overpainted, the dance hall became an armoury, and the rose beds were dug up, to become sites for air raid shelters.

Melly mentioned how the main reception still had a sky scene with clouds painted on the ceiling and a large artificial (though realistic) tree in the centre of it.

[notes 9] During the war, the German air force bombed Royal Arthur 52 times, including one incident on 21 August 1940 when an attack led to damage or demolition of 900 small buildings.

Flight magazine reported that "flying visitors were unanimous in their praise of what they saw and experienced", observing that the experience contrasted to the poor reputations the camps were being given in the media at the time.

[news 4] The following year he opened his next airfield at Skegness and announced that visitors could fly to the camp on a service run by BEA from 26 June.

[web 4] Around this time, many of the structures were subject to change with the demolition of many chalets and some central buildings including the Windsor dining hall and Empire theatre.

[web 9] As with its Bognor Regis and Minehead counterparts, the Skegness resort underwent further improvement work in 1998 with the construction of the Skyline Pavilion.

[web 1] According to the national police profile of the local residents, a large proportion of the Butlins workforce is now Eastern European in origin.

It also provides a wide range of entertainment, aided by the formation of strategic partnerships with popular brands, including Britain's Got Talent, Thomas & Friends, Brainiac: Science Abuse, Guinness World Records, Bob the Builder, The Masked Singer and Angelina Ballerina.

[2] The Skegness camp contained all the standard Butlins entertainment ingredients: Butlins Redcoats, a funfair, a ballroom, a boating lake, tennis courts, a sports field (for the three legged and egg & spoon races and the donkey derby), table tennis and snooker tables, amusement arcades, a theatre, arcades of shops, a chairlift system and a miniature railway.