This is about Torquay's role in the world's most famous kidnapping and an extortionate ransom demand.It all began with England's King Richard - known as the Lionheart. Even though Richard lived most o…

People in Chelston, Torquay have been making mini willow sculptures to decorate their gardens during lockdown. The idea began when a community project to create willow sculptures for the local …

"Torquay is a pretty place... a mixture of Hastings and Tunbridge Wells and little bits of the hills about Naples", Charles Dickens Writer and social critic Charles Dickens liked Torquay's beauty; …

The study of the origin of words - or etymology- isn't an exact science.Some Torquay names are obscure but fairly straightforward. For example, the various aristocratic titles and family members of th…

Before the coming of the National Health Service and a modern police force, who would you go to if you were ill or believed that someone was doing you harm? For thousands of years it was the local cu…

Following our theme of weird South Devon, here's a local incident that fits in to that most rare of paranormal experiences- the timeslip.Timselips are a reversal of the traditional Torbay ghost. Many …

In 1644 the English Navy was in Torbay hunting down England's Queen. This was Henrietta Maria of France, queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland and wife of Charles I. She was mother of his tw…

When we look at a picture of Victorian Torquay there's one thing that we can't really see. That's what the town actually smelled like. And it stank. The smell would have hit you instantly- a mixture…

During lockdown the 1981 West German war film Das Boot has been regularly on TV. It's the fictionalised story of a German U Boat. But we do have the wreck of a real U-Boat off the coast of Torbay. …

During the wars against Napoleon the villagers of Torbay could be forced into joining the Royal Navy.It wasn't always so.While working and living conditions in the Royal Navy were harsh, at normal tim…

Take a look at the two images above and below. Depending on where you're reading this, one should bring out feelings of belonging and images of home; the other a sense of alienation or even…

"Here I sitting behind in a dark place, a lady spit backward upon me by a mistake, not seeing me, but after seeing her to be a very pretty lady, I was not troubled at it at all", Samuel Pepys (1633-17…

Those movies filmed in Torbay still keep coming to our attention. One reason for this is that location data bases often don't include movies made during the War- we didn't want the Luftwaffe finding …

It's just been announced that actor and comedian Tim Brooke-Taylor has just died from coronavirus aged 79. Depending on your age you'll probably know Tim from one of a variety of roles, but for…