Eady Levy

Photo: David Fisher, Terra Media Archives

The grave of Sir Wilfrid Griffin Eady GCMG KCB KBE (1890-1962) in the churchyard at Rodmell, Sussex, England. Eady gave his name to the levy on cinema ticket sales that was introduced while he was an official at the Treasury. As Harold Wilson, the ministerial architect of the scheme as President of the Board of Trade, was fond of saying: 'If you want to get a measure adopted, name it after the civil servant who would have to implement it.'

Rodmell had strong literary connections earlier in the century. It is best known as the home of Virginia Wolff, who drowned herself in the nearby River Ouse (somewhere behind the trees in the middle distance), and her husband Leonard. Another writer, of rather different character, who lived in the village for a time was J B Morton ('Beachcomber'), one of the funniest writers the country has ever produced. A local cricket match was immortalised by A G Macdonell in England, Their England.

Media laws and regulation index