Example sentences of "he [was/were] [adv] the first [noun sg] " in BNC.
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| 1 | To return to Griffith 's experiments , Griffith was not the first man to draw strong glass fibres but he was probably the first man to do it in a systematic way and to provide a plausible explanation of the results . |
| 2 | He was probably the first man to solo 8a on French rock ; made the first winter lone ascent of the South Face of the Aiguille du Fou ( scene of Alan Rouse 's famed injury during an earlier , summer , solo ) and also made one of the most prestigious ascents in the area with his solo of Divine Providence — Patrick Gabarrou 's 1984 desperate on the Grand Pilier d'Angle buttress on Mont Blanc . |
| 3 | Jamie knew that wherever he was in the wild world , far from his home , he was not the first Scotsman to hammer at the gate . |
| 4 | Blake suspected that he was not the first person who had asked himself that question or had come to the same irrational conclusion . |
| 5 | He was also the first sprinter in Britain to use starting blocks . |
| 6 | He was also the first person to use coal gas for lighting purposes . |
| 7 | He was also the first man to use the word ‘ Americanism ’ in 1781 . |
| 8 | ‘ He was also the first sportsman to become a celebrity . |
| 9 | He was also the first chairman of the colleges ' committee set up after the 1962 report of the commission on the relationship between the colleges and university , chaired by the first Baron Bridges [ q.v . ] . |
| 10 | He was also the first Protestant to become President of the overwhelmingly Catholic country . |
| 11 | Hervey , a Breton , was appointed bishop , the first of a long series of members of the English royal court to be provided with a Welsh see : he was also the first bishop in Wales to come under the authority of an English archbishop . |