25 Facts About Ellen MacArthur

1.

Dame Ellen Patricia MacArthur was born on 8 July 1976 and is a retired English sailor, from Whatstandwell near Matlock in Derbyshire, now based in Cowes, Isle of Wight.

2.

Ellen MacArthur was born in Derbyshire where she lived with her parents, who were both teachers, and two brothers Fergus, still in Whatstandwell, and Lewis, who now lives in Pennsylvania.

3.

Ellen MacArthur acquired her early interest in sailing, firstly by her desire to emulate her idol at the time, Sophie Burke, and secondly by reading Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons series of books.

4.

Ellen MacArthur has since become the Patron of the Nancy Blackett Trust which owns and operates Ransome's yacht, Nancy Blackett.

5.

Ellen MacArthur saved her school dinner money for three years to buy her first boat, an eight-foot dinghy, which she named Threp'ny Bit even though decimalisation had taken place before she was born.

6.

Ellen MacArthur sellotaped a real 'threepenny bit' coin onto the bow.

7.

Ellen MacArthur attended Wirksworth County Infants and Junior Schools and the Anthony Gell School and worked at a sailing school in Hull.

8.

When she was 17, Ellen MacArthur bought a Corribee and named it Iduna; she described the first moment she saw it as "love at first sight".

9.

Ellen MacArthur began her attempt to break the solo record for sailing non-stop around the world on 28 November 2004.

10.

Ellen MacArthur crossed the finishing line near the French coast at Ushant at 22:29 UTC on 7 February 2005 beating the previous record set by French sailor Francis Joyon by 1 day, 8 hours, 35 minutes, 49 seconds.

11.

Ellen MacArthur was granted the rank of Honorary Lieutenant Commander, Royal Naval Reserve on the same day.

12.

In 2007 MacArthur headed up BT Team Ellen, a three-person sailing team which includes Australian Nick Moloney and Frenchman Sebastien Josse.

13.

In October 2009 Ellen MacArthur announced her intention to retire from competitive racing to concentrate on the subject of resource and energy use in the global economy.

14.

In June 2000, Ellen MacArthur sailed the monohull Kingfisher from Plymouth, UK to Newport, Rhode Island, USA in 14 days, 23 hours, 11 minutes.

15.

In 2005, Ellen MacArthur beat Francis Joyon's existing world record for a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation.

16.

Ellen MacArthur had no more than 20 minutes' sleep at a time during the voyage, having to be on constant lookout day and night.

17.

Ellen MacArthur achieved his goal in 57 days, 13 hours 34 minutes and 6 seconds.

18.

Ellen MacArthur's chosen book was The SAS Survival Handbook by John "Lofty" Wiseman and her luxury item was a fluffy worm mascot.

19.

Ellen MacArthur was the last record holder on Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car on the BBC's Top Gear television driving programme until the eighth series, when the car and rules were changed, and previous records were removed.

20.

Ellen MacArthur completed the lap in 1 minute 46.7 seconds, beating Jimmy Carr by 0.2 seconds.

21.

Ellen MacArthur won Top Gear's Fastest Driver of the Year award in 2005.

22.

Ellen MacArthur took part in 2011 TV series Jamie's Dream School.

23.

In 2002, Ellen MacArthur released her first autobiography entitled Taking on the World.

24.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is a UK registered charity which promotes the circular economy.

25.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation is a founding member and partner of the Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy, which was launched out of the World Economic Forum.