Brighton Palace Pier The Graham Greene novel "Brighton Rock" featured the Palace Pier. John Boulting's 1947 film adaptation helped established "low life" subculture in Brighton, and the climax of the film is set on it, where gangleader Pinkie Brown (played by Richard Attenborough) falls to his death. The 1953 B movie "Girl on a Pier" is set around the Palace Pier and also features the clash between holidaymakers and gangsters in Brighton. The Who's 1973 concept album "Quadrophenia" was inspired in part by band leader Pete Townshend spending a night underneath the pier in March 1964. It is a pivotal part of the
London to Brighton events one hundred runners taking part. The fastest would finish in well under 6 hours, whilst there was a time limit of 10 hours after which the course was not marshalled. The race was discontinued after 2005 because of increasing road traffic and difficulties in finding sufficient marshals. In 2010 the ultra-running organisation Extreme Running staged an off-road London to Brighton Trail Race from Blackheath in London to Brighton sea front (56 miles). The winning time was 8 hours 32 minutes. The race was next planned to be held in 2011. From Piccadilly to Brighton there is a marathon route. The