Today in the office, Ten66 Television staff *ahem...Olwen* have been gearing up for the annual Hastings Pirate Day! 🦜🏴‍☠️☠️⛵⚓🦈🌴 ...is anyone going to tell her it's on Sunday? 😳 Defending the town’s world title for the largest gathering of buccaneer-bedecked-people, the Ten66 team will be out in full force revelling alongside privateers and parrots alike. Hastings has a long history of smuggling, reaching a peak in the 17th and 18th centuries when onerous import taxes and levies were imposed by the government on certain ‘luxury’ or imported goods. This led to local civilians and infamous local gangs finding any way they could to bring contraband such as tobacco, rum and tea into England via the south coast, due to Hastings proximity with the continent, less than 30 miles away. Some was through direct smuggling from France, some through the much nastier practice of pirating which involved luring innocent ships and their crews onto the coast and liberating their cargo, which often involved extreme violence. Nowadays, the event is far more licit and much more fun - but as you can see Hasting residents still take it very seriously. You can still pick up the distinct whiff of rum! ...and I wouldn’t mess with our Olwen 😡😤