On January 18 1873 Edward Bulwer-Lytton died in his Torquay home Argyll Hall on Warren Road, having lived there since 1867.
Built in 1849, Argyll Hall became the Roseland Hotel and is now an apartment block called Marine Palms occupying a prominent position on Rock Walk.
Edward (1803-1873), was a hugely successful poet, playwright, and novelist. In [...]
The planets Venus and Jupiter are gradually drawing closer to each other in the western evening sky. They are unmistakeable, because they are the brightest objects in the sky after the Sun and the Moon. On the evenings of 12 and 13 March they will be at their closest, separated by only a couple of [...]
The planet Venus is still very prominent in the western sky for a few hours after sunset, and is the brightest object in the night sky after the Moon. It will continue to move slowly further away from the setting Sun during the month of February. On 25 February, it will be very close to [...]
Ala Elhoudiri of Torbay Inter-Faith Forum 4 Youth, produced a short film about how her faith inspires her life, entitled ‘Hope and Justice’, for the international ‘Shorts 2011’ competition of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.
Ala’s entry was shortlisted and she recently attended the Award Ceremony with her family at the British Academy of Film and [...]
Government plans to introduce regional pay rates for teachers, nurses and civil servants show the Conservatives are “intent on attacking public sector workers”, according to Torbay Labour Party Secretary Patrick Canavan.
Chancellor George Osborne announced during his Autumn Statement that the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) will explore ways to review the national pay rate, in [...]
December and January bring the welcome return of the winter constellations. Prominent among these is Orion, the hunter. He is said to have been placed in the sky by the gods after he had been bitten and killed by a scorpion. The offending scorpion was tactfully placed on the opposite side of the sky, as [...]
The regrettable return to darker evenings does have the compensation that we are able to see the winter stars. Prominent in the southern night sky throughout the month of November is the great Square of Pegasus. By following the line of stars that begins at the top left star in the Square of Pegasus, you [...]
Disabled people in Torbay, their families and friends will take to the streets in Bristol to protest against Government cuts to disability benefits and services. This is one year on from the Comprehensive Spending Review, which revealed the Government’s intention to slash public spending.
Spot lobbying Parliament earlier this year
Spot (Speaking Out in Torbay), a local [...]
Make a note in your diaries now. The evening of Friday 28 October will see an attractive line-up of the planets Mercury and Venus, together with a thin crescent Moon, just after the Sun has set, a few minutes before 6pm BST. Mercury and Venus will be roughly midway between the Sun and the crescent [...]
The planets and the more interesting stars and constellations are generally to be found in the southerly half of the night sky. But those in a northerly direction should not be neglected. The Great Bear, or Ursa Major, is the most well known of these. Its main component is the Plough, the saucepan-shaped constellation consisting [...]
In August 1964 the Rolling Stones performed theatre concerts every day across the southwest, including Weymouth, Weston-super-Mare, Exeter, Plymouth, and Torquay.
For 5 days the Stones used the Grand Hotel as a base. Originally, they were going to stay at the Queens Hotel, but, on police advice, this was changed to the Grand. The idea was [...]
The Rolling Stones, Torquay 1964
In August 1964 the Rolling Stones performed theatre concerts every day across the southwest, including Weymouth, Weston-super-Mare, Exeter, Plymouth, and Torquay.
For 5 days the Stones used the Grand Hotel as a base. Originally, they were going to stay at the Queens Hotel, but, on police advice, this was [...]
Prominent in the southern night sky over the summer months is what is known as the Summer Triangle. This is a grouping of three of the brightest stars in the sky – Vega, Deneb and Altair. All three are shown in the attached diagram (based on SkyMap Pro software).
Vega is by far the brightest star [...]
High up in the eastern and southern night sky in the summer months is the constellation of Cygnus, the Swan. It is fairly easy to recognise, because the stars in it are in the shape of a cross, as the attached diagram (using SkyMap Pro software) shows. Legend has it that the god Jupiter used [...]
The people of south Devon will be able to view a total eclipse of the Moon on the evening of Wednesday 15 June. Total eclipses of the Moon are not nearly as spectacular as total eclipses of the Sun, but they are still worth watching.
They occur whenever the Earth is positioned directly between the Sun [...]
The southern night sky’s most prominent constellation during May is still Leo the Lion. It is one of the few constellations in the sky which (with only a bit of imagination) actually looks something like the name we have given it. The illustration (using SkyMap Pro software) shows the back-to-front question mark which is meant [...]
With temperatures in the Bay soaring over the Bank Holiday weekend, the race to become Torbay’s next mayor is also heating up as candidates lay down their political aims.
Protecting and strengthening Torbay’s tourism industry is high on the hopefuls’ agendas, but high-tech and manufacturing businesses are seen as the key to unlocking the area’s future [...]
With recently released figures showing youth unemployment in the UK approaching a record one million, will the plans for a new Castle Circus business hub help in Torbay’s effort to curb this trend?
There are estimates that the proposed £6.8 million purpose-built office building could provide up to 400 jobs and encourage Torbay businesses to remain [...]
On my last post I uploaded a photo and asked if you could find the 16 faces, how did you get on? Seeing faces in this photo is quite subjective, you may have seen a different number of faces to a friend, or another reader. The reason for this is, as humans our brains are [...]
Hello!
Well here’s a little introduction all about me. I thought that would be a good place to start, seeing as this is my first post for Talk Torbay. My name is Chris Batchelor, I’m a hypnotherapy and NLP practitioner based in Torquay. I help people with all sorts of personal change issues including, stopping smoking, losing [...]