Things you didn't know about... Devon

Agatha Christie (née Miller) was born in Torquay, Devon, in 1890. Arguably the world's best-known mystery writer, she's listed in Guinness World Records as the best-selling fiction author of all time, with an estimated two billion books sold. Her work is often said to be outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. She died in 1976.

Britain's oldest commercial bakery is FH Jacka in Plymouth, Devon. Based in Southside Street, it was operating at least as long ago as the 16th century, and was open when Sir Francis Drake played bowls on Plymouth Hoe before turning his attention to the Spanish Armada. Jacka's also served the Pilgrims' boats before they headed for America.

Scottish clergyman and hymn writer Henry Francis Lyte wrote Abide with Me at All Saints church in Lower Brixham, Devon, where he had been minister for 20 years. One of the world's most popular Christian hymns, it was the last work completed by Lyte before succumbing to tuberculosis in Nice, France, on his way to Italy.

John "Jack" Russell was born in Dartmouth, Devon, and became curate at Swimbridge in the north of the county. A keen huntsman, he developed a hard-working smooth-coated breed of terrier that could flush out a fox—the Jack Russell, aka "Parson Terrier". The parson was also a founding member of the Kennel Club.

There were only 12 episodes of John Cleese's classic BBC comedy, Fawlty Towers, but it remains one of the nation's all-time favourites. Set in Torquay, Devon, it features hotel owner Basil Fawlty as possibly the rudest, most tight-fisted, customer-hating hotelier ever portrayed on the small screen.

The guildhall in the Devon city of Exeter, which claims to be Britain's oldest municipal building still in use, was built in the late 15th century on a local government site dating back to the middle of the 12th century.

In the run-up to the 900th anniversary of its Royal Charter by King Henry I in 1105, local historians in Tavistock, west Devon, unearthed fragments of ancient manuscripts hinting at the origins of Devon's signature dish. As the 10th-century Benedictine Abbey was being rebuilt after a Viking raid in 997AD, local workers were apparently rewarded with meals of bread, clotted cream and strawberry preserves. They proved so popular that the monks continued serving them to passing travellers.