What do you know about Torquay?

[damian_steele]

Please do not look up anything for your reply. I am specifically trying to discover what people already know, not what they can research.

So, as the title says, what do you know about Torquay - the UK one. Which famous people are associated with Torquay? What historically significant events have happened there? Why do so many people know the name? Or something else ....

[crafters_corner]

Hi Damian,
Famous people - Agatha Christie. However,her name is more associated with the Bigbury, Burgh Island area.

Personal memories are of annual coach (charabanc) trips to Torquay to see the lights. This was little more than a wavy string of fairy lights along the sea front. But, to a child who grew up among the bomb sites of Plymouth, it was just magic.

Apart from that, red sand and palm trees.

[lofty100e]

Shackelton (can't remember his first name or rank, as you asked us not to google) spent the night in what is now the Bay Hotel on the seafront before shipping out on Captain Scott's expedition the following day.

Also Agatha Christie worked in a local hospital (the morgue - if I remember correctly) which sparked her interest in murderous things for her writing.

[bluebedouin]

[astral276]

Ditto. Fawlty Towers was the only thing that sprang to my mind.

You'll never waitress in Torquay again!

[damian_steele]

Does the name "Kents Cavern" mean anything to anyone?

[crafters_corner]

Does the name "Kents Cavern" mean anything to anyone?

Yes it does. But when asked about Torquay, it was the sea front that sprang to mind. Of course there are other things associated with the surrounding area. But visits to Torquay as a child were always on the coach or Devon General bus so Kents Cavern was a much later addition to our visits.

There are probably several other memories if jogged - but that is tantamount to Googling

[Oldandintheway]

Yes well madam, just what did you expect to see from a Torquay hotel bedroom window!
Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically, the Sydney opera house, hanging gardens of Babylon!
You can see the sea - it's over there between the land & the sky!

That's my sum total knowledge of Torquay I'm afraid!

[Maelbrigda]

I know nothing except that it is an English seaside town.

[Anniemcc2]

Does the name "Kents Cavern" mean anything to anyone?

Yes - been there many years ago whilst on a family holiday in Torquay, along with Babbacombe minature village.