Blue plaque for a remarkable man

A REMARKABLE Plymouth explorer, scientist and military man will be honoured with a blue plaque at his former home in the city. Ralph Alger Bagnold’s ground breaking work helped shape modern understanding of desert landscapes and has even been recognised by NASA.

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A plaque in his honour will be installed on the front of Astor House, Devonport Road, Stoke in July. Now a nursing home, it was once his childhood home. Bagnold was born in Plymouth on 3 April, 1896 and grew up in Stoke. In the First World War he was an engineer in the British Army.

When he returned to service in the Second World War, he was the first commanding officer of the ‘Long Range Desert Group’. A precursor to the SAS, the unit carried out reconnaissance work and raids behind enemy lines in North Africa.