Tony Bullimore

Tony Bullimore (15 January 1939 – 31 July 2018) he was educated at Claremont School.

Bullimore moved to Bristol in the early 1960s and married Lalel, a West Indian immigrant. In 1966 they opened the Afro-Caribbean-inspired Bamboo Club, which was billed as "Bristol's Premier West Indian Entertainment Centre", housed a restaurant, theatre workshop, football team and was the headquarters of the Bristol West Indian Cricket Club. The top floor housed the music venue, with DJs playing reggae and American soul music, and bands performed including Bob Marley and The Wailers, Jimmy Cliff, Ben E. King and Tina Turner. Bullimore's boat, Exide Challenger, capsized after the keel had snapped off. Bullimore managed to reach an air pocket in the upside-down boat in pitch darkness, having lost his food supplies, aside from a bar of chocolate. The Royal Australian Navy launched a rescue mission for Bullimore and another Vendée Globe capsized competitor, Thierry Dubois. On 9 January, Dubois was rescued by an Australian S-70B-2 Seahawk helicopter embarked on the frigate .

Adelaide then proceeded further south to where the Exide Challenger had been located by a Royal Australian Air Force P-3 Orion. Adelaide dispatched a rigid-hulled inflatable boat to the Exide Challenger where Leading Seaman Clearance Diver Alan Rub knocked on the hull. Hearing the noise, Bullimore swam out from his boat and was quickly rescued. HMAS Adelaide then returned both Dubois and Bullimore to Perth.

In 2000 he was featured in a BBC documentary about crossing the Atlantic Ocean, with the comedian Lenny Henry.

Death Bullimore died on 31 July 2018, aged 79, of a rare form of stomach cancer.