The Time Machine
"one of the most influential stories about time travel ever written."
The Time Machine
& the
Cavorite sphere
“And between Worcester Park and Malden there still stands that portentous avenue of iron-work, rusting now, and dangerous here and there, to witness to the first desperate struggle for man's right of way through the air.” - H G Wells
The First Men in the Moon
"the first alien dystopia."
- Brian Stableford
Celebrating 150 years of H.G. Wells,
21.09.1866 – 13.08.1946
Few would have imagined...
Not many people are aware of the fact that a certain H G Wells once lived in Worcester Park. Many people drive under the Worcester Park railway bridge each day without dreaming that they are passing The Avenue: the road that Wells lived in when he was at the peak of his literary fame, whilst writing the Time Machine. It is time that the literary genius of H G Wells is given the recognition it rightly deserves. A statue would serve as a fitting tribute to the global impact he has had upon science fiction, in terms of literature, media, art and film. There is a site at the end of The Avenue; near Worcester Park Baptist Church that would be the ideal location for this statue. It is highly visible from the main road, and the train station, and would make a dramatic impact to the arrival experience of Worcester Park.
H. G. Wells
H.G. Wells
"He is now best remembered for his science fiction novels, and Wells is sometimes called the father of science fiction, as are Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback. His most notable science fiction works include The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The Island of Doctor Moreau."
Why The Avenue, Worcester Park?
The Avenue is the ideal location not just because Wells lived in the Avenue: the road has a long yet unrecognised affair with a huge amount of the literary history of the time. H G Wells names Worcester Park as the site of the enormous launch structure built to pioneer manned flight in his story The Argonauts of the Air written in 1895. The story specifically names the South-Western main line between Wimbledon and Worcester Park. It was the publication of "scientific romances" such as these that were to make him the most successful author of his time.