Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells

The phrase "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" is a generic name used in the United Kingdom for a person with strongly conservative political views who writes letters to newspapers or the BBC in moral outrage.

[1] The term may have originated with either the 1944 BBC radio programme Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh, a regular writer to The Times or an editor of the letters page of a local newspaper, the Tunbridge Wells Advertiser.

[6] There were also suggestions that the use of Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells came from one regular contributor of letters to The Times in the early 20th century, who would use a particular style of writing to oppose people and organisations who came to his attention.

[8] In 2014, the Kent and Sussex Courier claimed that the originator of Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells was the retired British Army colonel George Thomas Howe, who had developed a skill in writing letters about apartheid during five years in the Union of South Africa.

[11] Examples of letters of this type sent to the Advertiser may be found which pre-date these origins, such as the following from 1924: SIR – Being present at the unveiling of the plaque on Thursday last week on the Pantiles, I was surprised when the National Anthem was played to see that in a place like Tunbridge Wells, which is noted for its loyalty and calls itself "Royal", there should be people who refused to remove their hats.

[15] The magazine Private Eye made regular use of the Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells pseudonym to satirise the stereotypical conservative Middle Englander, and it became a running joke for several years.

[23] In 2006, the author and magistrate Connie St Louis singled out the "disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" stereotype as a powerful British middle-class movement, saying "they are part of the group with the same concerns, so they have a sense of belonging".

Critical review of the book has stated that the "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" style displayed an art of letter writing that has continued despite other things in the world changing.