Names on the buses

484 Wilfred Pickles

Connections with Brighton and Hove : Wilfred Pickles was a proud Yorkshire man, so it was surprising that he settled down in Brighton. Born in Halifax, in 1904, he joined the BBC and became a regional announcer in the north before moving on to read the national news during the war. He was the first news reader to speak in a regional accent, partly to make it difficult for Nazis to impersonate BBC broadcasters. Pickles also became an actor, appearing on stage, screen and radio. But he was best known for hosting the long-running radio programme Have a Go between 1946 and 1967. The show attracted an audience of 20 million and Pickles received 5,000 letters a week. His wife was also part of the show and his catchphrase "What's on the table, Mabel?" was much imitated. Prizes were derisory with nothing over £2 but this did not seem to matter much, He branched into TV in 1954 with a version of Have a Go called Ask Pickles but this was less successful. He went on This is Your Life and Desert Island Discs. Pickles did not neglect his acting, appearing often on TV in popular programmes such as Dr Finlay's Casebook. In Brighton he moved to Courcels, a modern block of flats on the seafront in Kemp Town. He died from a heart attack aged 74 in 1978.

484 Volvo Gemini - carried name since delivery in November 2013. Route 7 branding added October 2015. Route 7 branding changed to Route 27 November 2017. Bus transferred to Metrobus in December 2020.