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Displaying items by tag: Joel Parkinson

#Surfing - Irish surfer Glenn Hall pipped reigning ASP world champion Joel Parkinson for a place in the quarter-finals of the Billabong Rio Pro this week, as Australia's SBS News reports.

Thirty-one-year-old Hall - who was born in New South Wales but has dual citizenship thanks to his Irish grandfather - did not survive much longer himself in the competition at Barra da Tijuca in Brazil, being eliminated in the fifth round by South Africa's Jordy Smith.

But the ASP world tour rookie surprised many with his third-round knockout of the current world champ, who went board-to-board with 11-time champion Kelly Slater for the title last year.

Published in Surfing

About Commander Bill King, Solo Circumnavigator

William Donald Aelian King was the last surviving submarine commander in the Second World War - in charge of the British Navy's T-class Telemachus that sank a Japanese sub in the Strait of Malacca, between Malaysia and Sumatra, in 1944.

Decorated many times for his service by the end of the war, King became a trailblazing solo sailor.

At the age of 58, he was the oldest participant in The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race sailing Galway Blazer II, a junk-rigged schooner he designed himself.

After a number of abortive attempts, including an incident with "a large sea creature", he finally completed his solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1973.

Beyond his aquatic escapades, King settled with his wife Anita (who died in 1984, aged 70) at Oranmore Castle outside Galway after the war, where he later developed a pioneering organic farm and garden to help tackle his wife's asthma.

The round-the-world sailor and Galway native Bill King died on Friday, 21 September, 2012, aged 102.