[2] The town's economy, like Brixham's, was initially based upon fishing and agriculture; however, in the early 19th century, it began to develop into a fashionable seaside resort.

The mild climate (for the UK) attracted many visitors who considered the town a convalescence retreat where they could recover from illness away from the cold and cloudy winters of more northerly or easterly locations.

The improved transport connections resulted in rapid growth at the expense of nearby towns not on Isambard Kingdom Brunel's railways.

They were initially powered by the unusual Dolter stud-contact electrification so as not to disfigure the town with overhead wires, but in 1911, was converted to more conventional overhead-line supply.

[14] During World War I, military hospitals were sited in Torquay – many survivors from the Battle of Gallipoli recuperated in the town – and it was used as a troop staging area.

[15] During World War II Torquay was regarded as safer than the towns of South East England, and played host to evacuees from the London area.

The town did, however, suffer minor bomb damage during the war, mainly from planes dumping excess loads after participating in the Plymouth Blitz.

[18] After World War II several private high-rise blocks of flats were constructed above the Rock Walk cliffs and harbour, giving the area a Monte Carlo feel.

The site featured a hexagonal outdoor plunge pool surrounded by sunbathing terraces leading down to Beacon Cove beach.

For instance, the Rock Walk located on the town's seafront was refurbished through a £3 million funding project,[23] resulting in its reopening on 3 October 2010, as part of the Royal Terrace Gardens festival.

A county borough called Torbay was created to cover the whole area (with some adjustments of the boundaries to neighbouring parishes at the same time).

[34] Six years later, in 1974, local government was reformed again, with Torbay becoming a non-metropolitan district and Devon County Council providing county-level services to the area again.

In 1900, Chelston and Livermead, part of the Cockington estate owned by the Mallocks, were annexed by the town and this was followed by the absorption of the former borough of St Marychurch.

Work on constructing a new dual carriageway on the outskirts of Torquay near the Kingskerswell end was completed in 2015 with a new junction between the A380 South Devon Highway and Torbay Ring Road.

The former St Andrew's Presbyterian church (built in 1862) on Torwood Gardens Road closed in 1951, and after a time as a nightclub, was converted to private residences.

[60] Torquay has numerous tourist attractions, including Kents Cavern, Britain's most important Stone Age site, which was home to early humans for some 40,000 years.

The caves have attracted many famous people, among them Agatha Christie,[61] Beatrix Potter, King George V and Haile Selassie who was so impressed with his visit that he gave his guide, Leslie Powe a gold sovereign.

[63] The museum contains extensive geology, natural science, archaeology and ethnography collections of international importance, including the oldest fossil evidence of modern man in north-west Europe.

Development of the site as a marine animal exhibit was first proposed in early 1999 in response to a call from Torbay Council for submissions from interested parties.

A large tethered balloon offering aerial views of the town operated for several years until it was destroyed by strong winds in January 2012.

[78] Torquay has a long history of holding sailing events and regattas due to the favourable easterly facing nature of the bay and its popularity in the 19th and 20th centuries.

[79] From 1974, when it was created, until 1997 Torbay constituency was a safe Conservative seat, but Liberal Democrat Adrian Sanders overturned spy writer Rupert Allason's majority by just 12 votes in 1997, widened to 6,708 in 2001.

A swing of 9.7% away from the Liberal Democrats was split between the Conservatives (with a 4.9% swing), Labour – who gained a substantial increase in their vote as support for Lib Dems in 1997 and 2001 moved back and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), whose candidate Graham Booth improved on his deposit-losing 2001 performance with a 4.7% increase in his vote.

For further education, students can either go to one of the sixth forms at the previously mentioned The Spires, St Cuthbert's Mayne or Grammar schools, or they can go to South Devon College which is based in Long Road in Paignton on a new campus that fully opened in January 2006.

A number of sketches for the Monty Python's Flying Circus television show (1969–74) were filmed on location in and around both Torquay and neighbouring Paignton.

It was while staying in Torquay at the Gleneagles Hotel with the Python team in 1971, that John Cleese found inspiration (and the setting, although not the actual film location) for the popular sitcom Fawlty Towers (1975, 1979).

[82] Incidents during the Pythons' stay are said to include the owner, Donald Sinclair, having thrown Eric Idle's suitcase out of a window in case it contained a bomb.

[83] Cleese later described the eccentric owner as, "the most wonderfully rude man I have ever met", although Sinclair's widow has since said her husband was totally misrepresented in the comedy.

[85] In October 2010, it was reported that Bristol-based artist Banksy had painted a mural on the wall of the Grosvenor Hotel in Belgrave Road.

The Victorian mansion in Torquay where Agatha Christie was born and grew up, Ashfield in Barton Road, was demolished in 1961, to build an estate and extension for South Devon College.