A lot of the Daily Telegraph military obituaries are of blokes who did something fantastically heroic at Arnhem, then went home, became accountants and grew roses for the rest of their lives. Commander Bill King … not so much:
In August 1968 he set off from Plymouth to circumnavigate the world single-handed, in the junk-rigged Galway Blazer II. He described his odyssey as “a lonely venture intended to unwind the springs of tension which had never quite been eased out of my deepest being since submarine days”. In submarines he had lived on “a soaplike meat substitute” (Spam), the smell of which haunted him still, and on this voyage he subsisted on a diet of raisins; wholemeal biscuits; almond nut paste for protein; and, for vitamin C, cress grown in jars. This was supplemented by the occasional flying fish which landed on board.Yummy.