WOKING'S HISTORY & HERITAGE
(Featuring the Articles and Archive of Iain Wakeford)
PREVIOUSLY FEATURED ON THE heritagewalks.org WEBSITE,
All the contents of this website are copyrighted and should not be reproduced in any form for commercial purposes without prior agreement. Anybody wishing to copy material for private or research study purposes may do so. (c) Iain Wakeford 2022
This section contains articles based on my research into H G Wells' science-fiction novel, The War of the Worlds.
The War of the Worlds was originally published in serial form in Pearsons Magazine before being released in book form in 1898.
2016 marked the 150th year of H G Wells' birth (and 70 years since his death), so to help celebrate I conducted a series of guided walks around the Woking area.
These pages were designed to compliment the walks, with each page looking at a different chapter of the book. They are illustrated with some of the original drawings from Pearsons Magazine, as well as some contemporary photographs and maps to show the Woking that Wells would have known (and therefore what the 'real' war would have looked like).
Obviously not every detail of the story and not every chapter of the book will be covered on this site - just the bits relevant to the Woking area. If you have not read the story before (or not read it for a while), I hope these notes will help to enhance your understanding of the setting for the story, and therefore enhance your enjoyment of what was, and still is, a remarkable piece of writing.
Chapter One - The Eve of the War
Chapter Two - The Falling Star
Chapter Three - On Horsell Common
Chapter Four - The Cylinder Unscrews
Chapter Six - The Heat Ray in Chobham Road
Chapter Seven - How I Reached Home
Chapter Nine - Fighting Begins
Chapter Eleven - At the Window
Chapter Twelve - What I Saw of the Destruction
On Friday the 23rd September 2016, to mark the 150th anniversary of H G Wells' birth just two days before, the Surrey Advertiser produced 'live' coverage of my adaptation (along with Stuart Richards, James Chapel and Andre Langlois) of The War of the Worlds. If you haven't seen it, please use the link here. I hope you like it as it was great fun to write (and see reproduced live throughout the day).