Home / Areas To Visit - Map of Devon / Devon Tourist Information / Famous Devonians

Famous Devonians

From poets to politicians, explorers to television presenters - Devon's famous sons and daughters have for many centuries played a distinguished role in the nation's history.

Seafaring comes naturally to Devon men. Who hasn't heard of the exploits of Sir Francis Drake, circumnavigator of the world and successful pirate? He also helped see off the Spanish Armada in 1588.

Sir Walter Raleigh lived an equally flamboyant life as seafarer and explorer, laced with the odd bit of piracy. He it was who named the area of Virginia in the USA, after the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I. More recently, Sir Francis Chichester, long-distance aviator and yachtsman, captured the British imagination with his amazing solo voyages around the world. And it was from Plymouth that the Pilgrim Fathers set sail in the Mayflower bound for the New World, way back in 1620.

Other adventurous Devonians are Robert Falcon Scott - 'Scott of the Antarctic' - and explorer Sir Richard Burton. Sporting Devonians include Angela Mortimer, famous for winning Wimbledon in 1961. Sue Barker nearly made it too, in 1977, but is now best-known as a leading sports presenter. England's first black rugby player, Jimmy Peters, was a leading player for Plymouth Albion back in the 1900s.

Devon has no shortage of painters, writers and poets, either. Most famous, perhaps, is Dame Agatha Christie, with her two super-sleuths. Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge started life at Ottery St Mary and Devon's adopted son Ted Hughes lived in Devon for nearly 40 years. Portrait painter Sir Joshua Reynolds was born near Plymouth and painted there for some years before moving to London.

Beryl Cook, whose exuberant larger-than-life characters really know how to party, has lived in Plymouth for most of her life. As did Robert Lenkiewicz, one of the South West's most celebrated artists of modern times.

In other spheres Devon can boast of Charles Babbage, 'father of the computer', comedian Peter Cook, Thomas Newcomen, inventor of the atmospheric engine, and politician Michael Foot.

And bringing us right up to date, some of Britain's most popular music stars are Devonians - Muse are from Teignmouth, Joss Stone is from Uffculme in Mid Devon, and Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay, hails from Whitestone, just outside of Exeter.