In Michelle Magorian’s Just Henry (2008), The Rex is an occasional haunt of cinema-mad Henry and his friends Grace, Pip, Jeffries, and Mrs Beaumont. In Pt. 1, Ch. 9, they watch Rome, Open City and Jeffries hopes that the cinema will show another Italian classic, Bicycle Thieves which they watched in London. In writing the various cinema visits that occur throughout a novel set in 1949–50, Magorian meticulously ensured that screenings taking place on dates and in venues in which they could have occurred.

The Rex Cinema opened in the 1910s and closed in the 1970s, becoming a pool hall before being demolished to make way for flats called ‘Shoot Pool’. See https://portsmouthandsouthsea.co.uk/media/rex-cinema-fratton-road.184/ and https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/people/17-lost-portsmouth-cinemas-how-many-do-you-remember-1314356

Michelle Magorian (b. 6 Nov. 1947, Southsea) is a children’s novelist, and the author of Goodnight Mister Tom (1981), Back Home (1984), A Cuckoo in the Nest (1994), A Spoonful of Jam (1998), Just Henry (2008), Impossible (2014) and other works. Many of her novels have been adapted for film and television. She has been the recipient of awards, including The Costa Book Award for Children's Fiction, and The Guardian Children's Fiction Prize

Magorian was born in Portsmouth and spent much of her childhood in the city, but her father’s career in the navy saw the family spend five years in Singapore and Australia. From the age of nine, Magorian lived at 61, Victoria Road North. Her early enthusiasm for Portsmouth’s many cinemas is reflected in the novel Just Henry, in which the city becomes Sternsea. Her father later worked as a school teacher and a barrister before teaching law at Portsmouth Polytechnic (later the University of Portsmouth). Inspired by spending much time at Portsmouth's King's Theatre Magorian trained at Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama and launched into a successful stage career. During her thirties she became increasingly interested in children's fiction and decided to write a debut novel. The result, Goodnight Mr Tom, was very quickly an international success. Magorian's ability to understand childhood experience and the complex web of relations between adults and children combines with her interest in historical settings and the arts.

Now resident in Petersfield, Hampshire, Magorian received an honorary doctorate from the University of Portsmouth in 2007 and her glittering writing career continues. Her musical Tinsel was performed in The Studio, Petersfield in November 2019, with Magorian appearing in the cast. Magorian has written the libretto for a further musical, Sea Change (with music by Stephen Keeling), which is set on the Solent in 1998. This was originally due to be performed in Spring 2021 but whic of next year but this may be delayed by a year due to Covid-19. 15 of the songs from the musical can be found on SoundCloud here

If you have any comments, corrections, or suggestions in relation to the map please contact Dr Mark Frost, English Department, University of Portsmouth: mark.frost@port.ac.uk