11 Things About...Torquay

1.       When Torquay joined the East Devon League they played their games at the Recreation Ground before moving to Plainmoor which at the time was the home to Torquay Athletic Rugby Club. That is a reversal of the current situation and homing.

2.       In 1921 the club entered the Southern Football League, famous for being the league that Tottenham Hotspur played in when becoming the only non-league team to win the FA Cup.

3.       A notable Torquay United player is Dartmouth-born winger Ralph Birkett, who later went on to play with distinction for Arsenal and Middlesbrough and win one full England cap.

4.       In 1954 United changed their club colours. Their black and white stripes being changed to gold and blue to reflect the resort's 'sun, sand and sea image', colours which the club has maintained to this day.

5.       The Torquay United v Huddersfield Town fourth round FA Cup game at Plainmoor, in January 1955, recorded an official attendance of 21,908, which remains a club record.

6.       The introduction of the FA Premier League at the end of the 1991-1992 season meant a break-up of the 104-year-old Football League that had operated until then with four divisions. This also meant a change to the names of the divisions - therefore, Torquay were relegated from Division Three to...Division Three! 

7.       Torquay was the home of the writer Agatha Christie, who was born in the town and lived there during her early years. The town contains an "Agatha Christie Mile", a tour with plaques dedicated to her life and work.

8.       A number of sketches for Monty Python's Flying Circus television show (1969–73) were filmed on location in and around Torquay.

9.       It was while staying in Torquay, at the Gleneagles Hotel, with the Python team in 1971, that John Cleese found inspiration for the popular sitcom Fawlty Towers.

10.    Lauren Pope, DJ, model and entrepreneur from the hit television show The Only Way is Essex was born in Torquay, as was actress and comedienne, Miranda Hart.

11.    The oldest known fossil belonging to an anatomically modern human, believed to date from over 40,000 years ago, was found in Torquay's Kent's Cavern.