Born: 8 August 1911 - 10 December 1993
Known for: Ken Baily, England's self-appointed and much loved sporting cheerleader, went just about everywhere in the World for sport supporting our national teams and individuals in many different sporting fields.
For many years he was listed in the "Guinness Book of Records" for non-stop long distance running in 1939 when Ken Baily, Douglas Brady, John Harris and Noel Griffin went on a relay across the Atlantic. They ran around the decks of the SS Bremen from Southampton to New York, covering 997 miles in 5 and a half days. All this time they were carrying a torch which held a message to President Roosevelt, asking him to announce that the United States would declare war if Germany attacked hoping that this might deter the Germans. Ken himself said later that their appeal fell on deaf ears and they arrived back in England only three days before Hitler invaded Poland and war was declared.
Ken also carried the Olympic torch when the games were held at Wembley in 1948.
Bournemouth Connection: At home in Bournemouth he was a frequent sight at AFCB Bournemouth Football matches, and he made sure he was always present at a royal visit to the town.
After 1948 Olympics, Ken continued for the next 30 years to be a torch-bearer - taking a flame along the Bournemouth promenade to start the annual regatta fireworks. As the years passed there was concern that Ken might not be able to keep up with the younger runners. But he did and his fitness was partly maintained by regular sea-bathing which included a dip on Christmas Day and at midnight on New Year's Eve with the Bournemouth Spartans.
The Bournemouth summer illuminations are still candlelit by the public and on August Wednesday nights right up to the very last years of his life, holiday-makers would be amazed and overjoyed to find themselves collecting their taper from England's most famous cheerleader, Ken Baily, in full costume.
In February 1982, during an England v Australia Rugby match at Twickenham, It was Ken Baily who came to the rescue by covering the streaker Erica Roe with his Union Jack.
In 1993 Ken died of cancer at a nursing home in Bournemouth
Series Information: This is one of 10 geocaches in the Bournemouth People (2021) series. Nine caches are stand-alone traditional caches. Each cache found will provide one of three bonus clues, which will reveal the coordinates for the tenth mystery cache. With only three clues to collect, you do not need to find all the caches in this series in order to have the information for the final, so if you are unable to find one, you should still be able to get the coordinates required. For the purpose of this series, please note that the bonus clues are numbered ‘Bonus Clue 4’, ‘Bonus Clue 5’, and ‘Bonus Clue 6’, to avoid confusion with caches found in other Bournemouth People series.
The Complete 2021 Series
Millie Bobby-Brown
Dai Dower
Tony Blackburn
Gerald Durrell
Marc Koska
Charles Gray
Virginia Wade
Leilani Dowding
Ken Baily
Frank Prentice