David Brown

After leaving college, he took up a position in a travel agency, an occupation with which he immediately gelled. In 1969 he gave up his job to undertake a ground-breaking overland trip halfway round the world. Together with three friends, he bought a Land Rover and drove across Europe, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.

Their budget was very limited, and some nights were spent huddled together in the Land Rover, wearing every item of clothing they possessed, in such places as the Khyber Pass where the temperature dropped to -30.

From India they travelled by very basic ferry boat via New Guinea to Sydney, where they went their separate ways. On his return to England, his previous boss offered him a job as a manager of his travel agency in Chippenham, and in October 1970 David married his fiancée Lynda and took up his new position with Yeomans Miller in the Causeway.

A couple of years later he took the plunge to set up on his business in Station Hill and thus David Brown Travel was born. A few years later his children Emily and then Miles came along. The family moved to Bremhill then to Hazeland where they lived for 25 years.

Owning a travel agency gave Mr Brown the opportunity not only to arrange wonderful holidays for his clients, but also for himself and family to travel the world. There were not many holiday destinations with which he was unfamiliar. Concorde, the QE2 and the Orient Express were all in a day's work! Once the business became profitable, he was able to achieve a lifelong ambition of buying an Aston Martin, with which, of course, he shared the then owner's name David Brown.

During the 1970s he made many new friends in the area through Chippenham Round Table and was chairman in 1979. He was also a governor at Middlefield Special School.

Having played rugby in his youth, he was an avid supporter. In the late 1980s he became fundraising manager for Bath Rugby, and was instrumental in acquiring the biggest sponsorship deal for them in the British club game at that time. A couple of years later he became tour manager for the club, and accompanied them on several tours.

Of course, he made all the travel arrangements himself, and was the subject of much derision on the tour to Thailand, when the flight was delayed by several hours. On another tour, to Australia, he met George Best in a bar. They instantly bonded, and discovered they had much in common, not only Manchester United (Mr Brown's favoured football team) but also their dark beards and longish haircuts.

Later, in the professional rugby era in 1998, he chartered a whole plane to take friends and supporters to Bordeaux, where Bath had their memorable win over Brive in the Heineken Cup.

When it came to International Rugby, he was a fervent supporter of Wales, claiming allegiance from his Welsh mother. He acquired debenture seats at the Millennium Stadium, where he would entertain friends, with a meal at his favourite Chinese restaurant always preceding the match.

An avid reader, he developed a good general knowledge and once appeared on 15 to 1. He also learnt to shoot and became a member of the Corsham shoot, and later the Hazeland shoot.

David Brown Travel was sold in 2005 after 30 years, and Mr Brown enjoyed ten years of quiet retirement, continuing with his interests. He revelled in the company of his two grandsons in Bradford-on-Avon and also paid the occasional visit to his son and his family, a third grandson, in Melbourne.

He had been suffering from prostate cancer for some time, and died on December 17. Friends have described him as a larger than life character who lived life to the full.