King George V put Bognor on the map in 1929 when he went to stay at the Sussex resort after a serious illness.

He granted it the suffix Regis.

But the monarch was famously displeased at the prospect of revisiting the town to recuperate from cancer in 1936. His last words were said to be, “B***** Bognor.”

There is some doubt over whether he actually uttered them but he certainly did not say, as was reported at the time: “How is the Empire?”

It’s also clear the King had little regard for Bognor even though he had recovered well from his first illness and had been shown great hospitality.

If Bognor was ambivalent about the monarch, there were no such doubts about the town’s most famous resident, poet and artist William Blake.

Despite being a Londoner through and through, he moved to Felpham in 1800 to decorate the home of William Hayley.

Three years later he was accused of sedition and arrested at the Fox Inn but was later acquitted, to the cheers of local people.

Blake was alleged to have shouted “Damn the King” during a fierce argument with a drunken soldier who had trespassed in the front garden but Hayley hired a good barrister and a Sussex jury found in his favour.

He wrote his poem Milton while at Felpham which contains the first reference to England’s green and pleasant land. This was inspired by the surrounding countryside.

There are plaques to him and to Hayley in Felpham. Hayley was an artist himself but is better known for his patronage of others, Another artist associated with the Fox is George Morland, chiefly known today for his rustic scenes. Morland often painted pictures to clear his debts and put a ship on the wall of the Fox instead of rent.

The painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti had a studio in Bognor at Belmont Street during the 19th century. Rossetti was a leading member of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood.

There is a plaque in West Street to the marine artist Joseph Witham who was born there in 1832. He became well known for painting ships at the docks in Liverpool and examples of his work can be seen at the National Maritime Museum in London.

An unlikely visitor to Bognor was the novelist James Joyce, best known for Ulysses. He wrote part of Finnegan’s Wake at Clarence Road in 1923.

RC Sherriff, who wrote Journey’s End and the script for Goodbye Mr Chips, also has associations with Bognor. His novel The Fortnight in September was set in the resort.

The composer Eric Coates, who died in 1957, lived at Aldwick Avenue. He wrote the theme music for Desert Island Discs. Other well-known compositions by him include Knightsbridge and the Dambusters’ March.

William Ward Higgs, who lived in Bersted Street, wrote the county anthem Sussex By The Sea. It has since been adopted by Brighton and Hove Albion.

There is a plaque at Hotham Park House to the man who founded Bognor. Sir Richard Hotham, MP for Southwark, started work on the resort in 1787.

The noted naturalist Henry Guermonprez lived in Bognor while compiling the standard works on plants and wildlife in West Sussex.

Bognor Regis Local History Society has produced a leaflet about blue plaques in the town. It also runs the excellent museum in the High Street, open during the day from Tuesdays until Sundays.