Barnstaple

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Largest town in North Devon
www.staynorthdevon.co.uk/site.htm

Birthplace of Sir Francis Chichester (September 17, 1901 – August 26, 1972), aviator and sailor. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for becoming the first person to sail single-handed around the world by the clipper route, and the fastest circumnavigator, in nine months and one day.

He was born in Barnstaple, Devon, England and, aged 18, emigrated to New Zealand, where in ten years he built up a prosperous business in forestry, mining and property development, only to suffer severe losses in the Great Depression. After becoming a pilot, he returned to England in 1929 to visit family and take delivery of a de Havilland Gipsy Moth aircraft, which he intended to fly to New Zealand, hoping to break Bert Hinkler’s record solo flight back to Australia en route.

On August 27, 1966 he sailed his ketch Gipsy Moth IV from Plymouth, England and returned there 226 days later on 28 May 1967, having circumnavigated the globe, with one stop (in Sydney, Australia). By doing so, he became the first person to circumnavigate the world solo from West to East via the great capes. The voyage was also a race against the clock as Sir Francis wanted to better the typical times achieved by the fastest fully crewed clipper ships during the heyday of commercial sail in the 19th century, (the first recorded solo circumnavigation of the globe was achieved by Joshua Slocum in 1898 but it took him three years with numerous stops - Slocum also took up the harder challenge of sailing east to west, against the prevailing wind).

Chichester was knighted for this achievement. For the ceremony, the Queen used a sword that had originally belonged to Sir Francis Drake (the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe).

Terence Charles "Snowy" White was born 3 March 1948, in Barnstaple, Devon. He is an English guitarist, mostly known for having played for Thin Lizzy (permanent member from 1979 to 1981) and for Pink Floyd (as a back-up player; he was first invited to join the band through Europe and the United States, in 1977) and, more recently, for Roger Waters' band. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowy_White