club by organising rowing events and visiting in each other's towns. Notable people The actor and presenter Bob Holness lived in the town as a child and attended Herne Bay Primary School until moving to Ashford. Nicki Chapman, the judge on the UK television series Popstars and Pop Idol, was born and raised in the town. Originally from London, Daniel Tammet, the subject of the UK documentary The Boy with the Incredible Brain, has now moved to the town. He is an autistic savant with outstanding abilities in mathematics, sequence memorising and language learning. Lydia Cecilia Hill (1913–1940), known as Cissie Hill, lived at Westcliff; she was a favourite of Ibrahim of Johor and former dancer. The Yorkshire-born writer Will Scott lived and wrote in Herne Bay until his death in 1964. During the late 1960s, many rock and jazz bands were formed around the city of Canterbury, creating a subgenre of music known as the Canterbury sound. Some of these musicians were residents of Herne Bay, including Dave Sinclair and Richard Coughlan of Caravan, and Kevin Ayers of Soft Machine. George W. M. Reynolds, one of the most popular British authors of the early Victorian era, moved to Herne Bay in 1854 and became one of the town's Improvement Commissioners. The children's writer Evelyn Whitaker was born there in 1844. Héctor García Ribeyro, the Mayor of Lima in Peru during the 1950s, had part of his schooling at the now defunct Herne Bay International school. Colin Dixon, the depot manager held hostage with his family during the £53 million Securitas depot robbery of February 2006, lived in Herne Bay at the time. Frederick Christian Palmer, known professionally as Fred C. Palmer, was the main public photographer of Herne Bay in the early years of the 20th century. He photographed the detective Edmund Reid, who had hunted for Jack the Ripper and who also lived in the town. Ann Thwaytes paid for the construction of the Clock Tower. F. W. J. Palmer, Surveyor to Herne Bay Urban District Council 1891–1915, designed both phases of The King's Hall in 1904 and 1913. Gabrielle Davis was Sheriff of Canterbury 2009–2010 and helped to save local museums from closure in 2010. William Matthew Scott (1893–1964) was a local author living at High View Avenue, and architect Ernest Trevor Spashett lived next door to him between 1959 and 1965. William Sidney Cooper painted local