The Knowhere Guide

Local Heroes in Barnstaple, Devon*

Barnstaple, Devon Famous Residents

Cringing Cult of Celebrity (Famous residents and ex-residents.)

• Some say Jesus Christ really comes from Barnstaple
• urmmmm, Joss Stone is from i between Exeter and Barnstaple, does that count?
• ah haa, its the new year 2005 and here is an update on what (I) steve kingett (actor) has been up too..... since doing the panto at xmas (funny enough) in north devon. I have had a part in the film Nuclear refinement (sci fi) as a "Cyber punk" as it was a short, it will be shown in cardiff and london at the film festivals. I have just landed a princapal part in the musical play "Lock up yer daughters","sotmore" (drunk)singing and acting (sic)to be put on at the "Epsom playhouse", in May (back to my roots) before i lived in barum for 20 years so there yer go cheers steve kingett
• Its behind you (oh no its not!) oh shut up. panto season on us again and me that is steve kingett, will be staring in "Snow white and seven dwrafs" and no iam not telling you what iam (that would be telling) apart from that i was on Channel five (brainteaser) a few weeks back (not acting) but still on Tv, it was nerve racking to say the least + it was going out live, but i got half way thro it Oh yea pantos on in ilfracombe, lee bay hotel, over the yuletide period. cheers me dears.
• Its behind you (oh no its not!) oh shut up. panto season on us again and me that is steve kingett, will be staring in "Snow white and seven dwrafs" and no iam not telling you what iam (that would be telling) apart from that i was on Channel five (brainteaser) a few weeks back (not acting) but still on Tv, it was nerve racking to say the least + it was going out live, but i got half way thro it Oh yea pantos on in ilfracombe, lee bay hotel, over the yuletide period. cheers me dears.
• ah ha, i have returned from Edinburgh (me) that is steve kingett, who was in the fringe play "The queen is dead". it was a lot of fun (but hard work!) we didn't get the best of reviews, still its the longest i have done a play for (1 month) the leads false teeth (clarence) went flying in one scene. which was amusing, to say the least or side spliting. i will be in the north devon area, at xmas for a panto so watch this space............all for now.
• well yes thanks alfully for the up date Darlings!! (Oh shit your not allowed to say that, anymore) but i just did.......steve Kingett here to say iam in a play called "The Queen iS dead", at the Edinburgh fringe festival (probley the bigest thing i have done since "the london pladiam". its a play about satire and mental illness. it tells the story about a Royal buttler, kept in a mental hospital, for stabbing a young guardsman nearly to death, who is sent out in care in the community. when clarence gets out he has more in mind than just pushing somebody underneath a tube train. this mental butler is after her majesty (after all he was her butler for seventeen years.....) its got a great cast. i play "Kevin" a rough looking/nasty piece of work geezer (clarences) side kick. so anybody in the Edinburgh area, for august come and see it, written by phillip riley (funny enough) a devon conection, he lived in Sidmouth for five years! well use this if you want, cheers for now Steve kingett
• bratton fleming - home to DJ skitz, aswell as some of the most inbred townie losers you'll ever come across.
• oh, ahemm. i thought it was time for an update for what i have been up to since, the london pladiam and channel five thing. well since that i was in "Blitz", as arry (a twenty 0ne) year old army deserter!) Tresure Island (gracing the shores of "North devon", for that one) Xmas panto at Ilfracombe (oh wot fun, no it really was) played "Isreal hands" In jan 2004 i did "Grab da mike", in Tooting SARF London (Reading poems, gulp!-my own) since then it has been a "Quiet period", untill now. got a part as a "Extra", in the new "David Soul" low bugdet movie "Puritain" so thier yer go - use this if you want, cheers Steve Kingett
• plenty of celebs who reside in the devon area but not that many from barnstaple.The most famous is probs that drummer from that band who's been mentioned before...hence why if sometimes your in one of the poxy clubs at some point you'll likely to see lots of demented people waving their hands in the air and singing chants of "put your hands up,put your hands up".
• hello i spose iam semi famous. me steve kingett, who lived in barnstaple from 1975- 1986, so you could almost say i was a "Barum local", well i have been in the North Devon journal since i moved away. from being on stage at the london pladiam, in the musical "To die for", a few fringe plays in london and very shortly going to be on Tv (Channel 5) in a Victorian drama, having my leg sawn off "ouch" (yes iam a actor) went to school at Park school, barnstaple. if you want to use this, feel free. cheers steve kingett (oh yea i now live in surrey)
• Mark owen actually has a house in pilton, and wayne sleep from celebrity jungle thingy rented a video from blockbuster
• Jonathon Edwards went to school around 15 mins from here.
• David Beckham and Posh own a house on the outskirts of Barnstaple.
• Robbie Williams Elton John (so i heard)!
• There's someone who knows someone who knows someone who's the drummer in Reef. I think that's pretty much everyone in North Devon actually. Also, Ranulph Fiennes (Ralph's Uncle), Michael Heseltine, Damien Hirst, Noel Edmonds and Joss Ackland all have houses somewhere round here. And Elkie Brooks is moving to LA. And I almost served Paula Yates in the Barnstaple Woolworths once. Honest
• The shuffling man with the long hair who shuffles between Pilton and town. He used to have a dog that bit me when I was little, but he died. He is blissfully unaware of his surroundings, usually stopping in the middle of the road for a break on his way home. He was recently spotted getting in the way of an ambulance rushing up to the hospital with its lights flashing. He took one shuffle backwards then stood with one foot raised off the ground not quite sure what to do! He hasn't been run over yet but we'll keep you posted.
• guy who walks really slow in the middle ofthe road hes scary but u can slap his ass and run its funny as tits whoo hoo
• Mr smelly, an inhabitant of roundswell, and a regular patron of Roundswell Sainsburys, he really does reek of piss
• Saki (writer), pseudonym of HECTOR HUGH MUNRO (1870-1916), British writer, born in Burma, but grew up in Pilton, suburb of Barnie...
• Speedy's dog unfortunately died from boredom.
• Monkeydog
• Mr 'No Shoes' frequents Barnstaple regularly, and as you drive pass Pilton near the Hospital, see the regular appearance of Mr Speedy travelling at about 50 yards an hour with his dog. In Fremington, don't forget to say hello to the Mrs Mary Barrel renowned for her floral efforts.
• And so did I, but I'm not *the famous* Tony Curtis :-)
• John Gay, author of "The Beggar's Opera", lived in Barnstaple

Buskers, Street Entertainers

• the big issue seller fluffy died of a heroin overdose so he isn't around any more what a shame......
• Just to update, unfortunatly "Fluffy" the Big Issue man outside WHsmiths / M&S sadly passed away May 2006 after a very sudden Brain Hemorage. Rest In Peace
• ah ha! this really is time for a update on me (steve kingett) actor, as iam in the north devon area, for xmas. alas no panto this year (oh yes there is!) so just down visting for a change. ok three films to look out for next year(which iam in) flirting with flamenco. Outlanders and ireana p, all out in 2007- so watch out for those. cheers steve kingett. check out the IMB, to see what else i have been in.
• Tiny - bouncer of Sherry's - passed away July 2006.
• Glen also known as G spot cocktail barman at the Cork and bottle.Arrested while dressed as a Jedi master complete with light sabre,made the Sun newspaper and radio Devon
• The tramp guy who wears carrier bags on his feet, he lives round the back of harveys. and appaerntly eats pigeons!!
• The homeless guy who sleeps in the alcove outside Boots on the high street. Seems to spend his time yelling abuse at children and pigeons. Everytime a copper walks past they seem to close their ears to his verbal torrent. The guy playing the saxophone constantly on a saturday in the High Street and manages to make a staggering 40p per day on average.
• The guy who sleeps in the doorway next to Boots. Always shouts at me for no apparent reason.
• well, iam going back a bit here. but when i lived in barum in the 70s/80s. it had it fair share of (0ps un pc) nutters, eccentrics. who could forget "creeping Jesus" or old bill on his bike (in the middle of the road) or how bout that bloke who had a tiger, in forches (in the 70s) yep it was on the local tv. i don't know what barnstaple is like now (for nutters, eccentrics) Oh to answer to what happned to the Busker, who used to sing "knock, knock on heavens door (he was called pat) from Ilfracombe and died a few years back, from a overdose. cause everytime i came down to barum i would always bumpinto him and he would wonder where i had been on me travels! well, thought i would write this as the "Acting" has gone very quiet (at the moment) cheers steve kingett.
• that old shuffly man goes really slowly, but you blink, and bang, he's up the other side of town. wierd. the busker singing knock on heavens door died a few years ago. it got a mention in the journal.
• aggy - the local crazy tramp - rides a bike and likes to play with sticks. random abuse at all times and mouth organ. then theres the bench by summerland stores where all the towns bums and rejects hang out. gorwel forches theres a guy thats hanging about that looks like santa told him his too old for his workshop - looks like an elf and wears a headhunter t-shirt and drinks cinzano from the bottle.
• Loadsa annoying buskers ready to make a few pennie's in the high st..although not all the time thank god.some are good, most u cannot wait to flee the high st before u either get a migraine or wee your pants laughing. Then there the local tramps, one in paticular who's getting quite a rep for himself and go's by the name of agi.less said about him though the better.
• ok well wen u say 'characters' there ain much of that in barnstaple is ther. theres some scary homeless ppl around (was attacked by a mad cycling psyhco guy once :S) but apart from that were all such nice people... oh and yea the annoying Big Issue guy is STILL here. -_- *sigh* stfu man!!!
• IT'S GOT TO BE AGGY!!!!!!! HES SO SCATTY, HE IS ALWAYS CHUCKING THINGS I.E. STICKS OR STONES. BUT WATCH OUT IF YOU ARE DRIVING, HE ENJOYS JUMPING OUT INFRONT OF CARS. AGGY IS THE LOONEY BY FAR...!!
• AGGY. Usually asleep in High Street by Boots during the day. At night he goes round with sticks, jumps out infront of cars, and shouts he is going to kill paedophiles- we think he's the best.
• every month or so this peplo come and play afrcan kind of music
• Whats with the mad guy, sleeps in a doorway or under the job centre, thinks he's in a war or something!Odd but harmless!
• Barnstaple Entertainer! c em round.
• loads of homeless people playing music!
• give the bloke with the flute money he plays a mean flute
• The Big Issue man is too annoyin
• There's an old man in a wheelchair outside M&S with a Bontempi keyboard who does renditions of such popular songs as "cat choking on the vomit of an old man" and "cow with a whistle up it's arse dancing on a piece of tin." Thing is, I really feel sorry for this guy, and always give him some money. You should do the same. For charidee mate.
• The bloke with the beard who sang "Knocking on Heaven's Door" (or one line of it) What happened to him?
• monkey dog vicky southern and her boyfriend dik davidson are funny as hell
• big issue man and ian coles
• the big issue seller outside whsmiths
• There are always buskers and they always get tons of money but EVERYONE gets pissed off with The Big Issue guy!
• Barking Simon who has had a few too many recreational substances and now screams along with his guitar in the high street.

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Last updated: 2008-08-26