Barbara Toy

Barbara Toy was a well-known traveller and explorer. Elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society for her visits to Iceland, Yugoslavia, Greece and Lebanon, she later became the first Westerner to set foot on the summit of Mount Wahniin Ethiopia. She received the Rover award (an award granted only once before) for her transit of North Africa from the Niger River to the Mediterranean.

Described by Philip Llewellin as a 'traveller in the most full-blooded sense of the word', Toy was the author of several acclaimed books, including In Search of Sheba, A Fool on Wheels, Rendezvous in Cyprus and The Way of the Chariots. She died in Banbury in 2001 at the age of 92.