Surrey Comet

The Surrey Comet is a weekly local newspaper covering the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South West London, and surrounding areas.

[citation needed] The Surrey Comet was founded in 1854 by Thomas Philpott, a printer from Surbiton, after he experienced a religious vision.

The Kingston and Surbiton News continued as the mid-week Surrey Comet, published on a Wednesday until at least the late 1980s.

In 1993 it was bought by Reed Regional Newspapers, who in turn sold it to Newsquest, a management buyout group in 1996.

During its existence it has interviewed notable personalities, including a 34-year-old Alan Turing on the development of his 'electronic brain' at the nearby National Physical Laboratory in Teddington.

The first Surrey Comet front page from 5 August 1854
The mid-weekly Surrey Comet masthead from 1934 showing the incorporation of The Surbiton Times and Surrey County Journal . The paper at this time covered Hampton Wick, Wimbledon, Cheam, Teddington and Twickenham
Alan Turing, then 34, spoke to the Surrey Comet in 1946 about his idea for 'an electronic brain' - the precursor of the modern computer