Chatham (pronounced "chat-um" ) is a large town that developed around an important naval dockyard on the east bank of the River Medway to the southeast of London in Kent, England. Together with Gillingham and Rochester it is today part of the Medway Towns conurbation. Charles Dickens lived in the town as a boy, both in 'The Brook, Chatham' and in Ordnance Terrace before the railway station was built just opposite. He subsequently described it as the happiest period of his childhood, and eventually returned to the area in adulthood when he bought a house in nearby Gad's Hill. Medway features in his novels. The composer Percy Whitlock (1903-1946); the painter and killer Richard Dadd (1819-1887); and, in more modern times, the artist/poet/musician Billy Childish and poet/painter/storyteller and mythographer Bill Lewis lived in Chatham. The poet/screenwriter/film maker and writer Alan Denman, was a lecturer at the Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD) at Fort Pitt in Rochester. The Brit Artist Tracey Emin and designer Zandra Rhodes were KIAD students. KIAD is now part of the University College for the Creative Arts (UCCA). Emin also lived at Castle Road, Rochester and in Chatham. The author and screenwriter Stel Pavlou also attended Chatham Grammar School for Boys, and boyband-singer Lee Ryan. More on Chatham 

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