List of people from Birmingham

This is a list of famous or notable people born in, or associated with, Birmingham in England.

Born in Birmingham

• Stephen Dodd – (comedian)
• Gabriel Agbonlahor – (Footballer)
• Stephen Arlen – (Opera manager)
• Keith Arkell – (English Chess champion, 2008)
• Ian Ashbee – (Footballer)
• Francis William Aston – (Nobel Prize winner, Physicist)
• Albert Austin – (Silent film star)
• Kenny Baker Actor R2D2 in Star Wars
• Pato Banton – (Reggae artist)
• Blaze Bayley – (Musician - former vocalist of Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden)
• Sir Michael Balcon – (Film director)
• Edward White Benson – (Archbishop of Canterbury)
• Alfred Bird – (Inventor of custard powder)
  • His son, Sir Alfred Frederick Bird – (Food manufacturer and chemist)
• Matthew Boulton – (Pioneering industrialist and member of the Lunar Society)
• Jon Bounds – (Blogger, humorist)
• William Bragge – (Civil engineer/Antiquarian)
• Justin Broadrick – (Musician - Godflesh)
• Geezer Butler – bassist of (Black Sabbath)
• Pogus Caesar – (TV Director and Photographer)
• John Cadbury – (Founder of the Cadbury chocolate company)
• Ali Campbell and Robin Campbell – (Musician, UB40)
• David Cannadine – (Historian)
• Bob Carolgees TV Presenter Tiswas and Surprise Surprise
• Barbara Cartland – (Novelist)
• Jasper Carrott – (Comedian)
• Austen Chamberlain – (Politician)
• Neville Chamberlain – (Prime Minister)
• Lisa Clayton – (Solo yachtswoman)
• Andy Cox Musician - Fine Young Cannibals & The Beat
• David Cox – (Artist)
• Lauren Crace – (Actress)
• Chris Crudelli – (Martial artist)
• Cat Deeley – (Television presenter)
• Nathan Delfouneso – (Footballer)
• Oscar Deutsch – (Founder of the Odeon Cinemas chain)
• Hunt Emerson – (Cartoonist)
• Ian Emes – (animator)
• Frederick Rowland Emett – (Cartoonist, artist and kinetic sculptor)
• Niki Evans – (Singer)
• Trevor Eve – (Actor)
• Frank Farrell – (Rock bassist and co-writer of chart hit "Moonlighting")
• Sid Field – (Comedian)
• Fuzzbox late 1980s girl band
• Martha Howe-Douglas (Actor)
• Sir Francis Galton – (Scientist, founder of eugenics)
• Roland Gift – (Actor and musician - Fine Young Cannibals)
• Mark "Barney" Greenway –(Musician - Napalm Death)
• Brian Griffin;(Photographer)
• Rob Halford – (Musician - Judas Priest)
• Charlie Hall – (Actor - most famous for his work with Laurel and Hardy)
• Alison Hammond – (Television Presenter)
• Richard Hammond – (Broadcaster - Top Gear)
• John Hampson – (novelist)
• Tony Hancock – (Comedian and actor)
• Nic Harcourt – (American radio personality)
• Julia Hartley-Brewer; Journalist and TV panelist
• Norman Hassan Percussionist - UB40
• William Hayward – (Architect, Town Planner & Secretary of The Birmingham Civic Society)
• Jacqueline Hill – (Actress - Doctor Who)
• George Jacob Holyoake – (Reformer)
• Ken Hodge (NHL player)
• Mr Hudson – (singer)
• Raymond Huntley – (Actor)
• Kassem Ibadulla – (Cricketer)
• Tony Iommi – guitarist of (Black Sabbath)
• Aidan Davis (Dancer and TV Presenter
• Jamelia – (R&B singer)
• Seth Johnson – (Sportsman Derby Footballer)
• Ann Jones – (Tennis player)
• Digby Jones – (Director-General of the CBI)
• Edward Burne-Jones – (Pre-Raphaelite painter)
• Earl Falconer Bass Player - UB40
• Felicity Jones – (Actress)
• Mike Kellie – (Musician - Spooky Tooth, The Only Ones)
• Albert William Ketèlbey – (Composer)
• Rupert Alfred Kettle – (County court judge and noted strike arbitrator)
• Denny Laine – (Paul McCartney and Wings)
• David Vern Lancet – (Lawyer, Jets' Fan, Master of Balls)
• Frederick William Lanchester – (maker of the first petrol-driven car in Britain)
• Ian Lavender Actor in Dads Army & Eastenders
• Joleon Lescott – (Manchester City F.C Defender)
• Jeff Lynne – (Musician; co-founder of the Electric Light Orchestra)
• Nigel Mansell – (Sportsman- F1 driver)
• Eric Maschwitz – (lyricist)
• Nick Mason – (Musician - Pink Floyd; did not reside in Birmingham)
• Clare Maguire (Musician born in Solihull but resides in London)
• Zena McNally – (Singer - Mis-Teeq)
• Christine McVie Musician - Fleetwood Mac
• Shazia Mirza – (Comedian)
• Henry Vollam Morton – (Journalist and travel writer)
• Constance Naden – (Poet & Philosopher)
• Alan Napier – (Actor)
• Ernest Willmott Norton, – (Cricketer)
• Ocean Colour Scene Band from Moseley
• Ozzy Osbourne – singer of (Black Sabbath)
• Carl Palmer – (Musician - Emerson, Lake & Palmer)
• Kay Parker – (Pornographic actress)
• Alexander Parkes – (Inventor of the world's first plastic)
• Dave Pegg – (Musician - Fairport Convention, Jethro Tull)
• Rob Peters – (Musician - Dangerous Girls, Sound Engineer Highbury Studio, Tour Manager)
• James and Oliver Phelps – (Harry Potter movie actors)
• John Poole – (Sculptor)
• Enoch Powell – (Politician, poet and classical scholar)
• Peter Powell – (disc jockey)
• Michael Pinder – (Musician - The Moody Blues)
• Alfred Radcliffe-Brown – (anthropologist)
• Micah Richards, (Manchester City F.C Defender)
• Nick Rhodes – (Musician - Duran Duran)
• Pat Roach – (Actor and wrestler)
• John Rogers (c.1500–1555) – (Bible editor and Martyr)
• Sax Rohmer – (Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward) – (novelist)
• Gary Shaw – (footballer)
• Martin Shaw – (actor)
• Visanthe Shiancoe – (American football player)
• Sukshinder Shinda – (English born Punjabi music producer and artist)
• Jane Sixsmith – (hockey player)
• 1st Viscount Slim of Yarralumla and Bishopston – (Military Commander)
• Sarah Smart – (Actress)
• James Sutton – (Actor)
• Andrew Symonds – (Cricketer)
• John Taylor – (Musician - Duran Duran)
• Roger Taylor – (Musician - Duran Duran)
• Will Thorne – (Trade union leader and MP)
• Charlie Timmins – (Footballer)
• Brian Travers Sax Player - UB40
• James Vaughan – Everton F.C Striker
• Murray Walker – (Racing driver and commentator)
• Kate Walsh – (T.V. presenter-Live from Studio Five)
• Bill Ward – drummer of (Black Sabbath)
• Brooke Foss Westcott – (Theologian and Bishop of Durham)
• Peter Weston – (Influential British science fiction fan)
• Willard Wigan – (Sculptor)
• Toyah Willcox – (Singer, actress and television presenter)
• Emma Willis – (Model)
• Steve Winwood – (Musician—solo artist and co-founder, Traffic)
• Chris Woakes England and Warwickshire cricketer
• Chris Wood – (Musician; co-founder, Traffic)
• Roy Wood – (Musician - co-founder of the Electric Light Orchestra)

Lived in, or associated with, Birmingham

• Joan Armatrading – (Singer/Songwriter)
• Francis William Aston – (Nobel Prize winner, Physicist)
• W. H. Auden – (Poet and author)
• W. V. Awdry – (Author of The Railway Series)
• John Baskerville – (Printer and inventor of typefaces)
• Marie Bethell Beauclerc – (First female shorthand teacher and reporter in England)
• William Bloye – (Sculptor)
• William Booth – (Forger)
• John Bright – (Politician)
• Herbert Tudor Buckland – (Architect)
• Elihu Burritt – (US consul to Birmingham)
• Pogus Caesar – (Broadcaster and artist)
• Jazzy B – (Punjabi singer)
• Daniel Caines - (Athlete)
• Joseph Chamberlain – (Politician, Mayor of Birmingham)
• Bruce Chatwin – (Author)
• Lee Child – Author
• George Dawson – preacher
• Arthur Conan Doyle – (Author of Sherlock Holmes)
• John Boyd Dunlop – (Industrialist, built Fort Dunlop)
• Revd.Richard Enraght– (Vicar, religious controversialist)
• Robyn Rihanna Fenty, moved to Birmingham 2011, best known as Rihanna
• Harry Freeman – Music hall performer
• Joseph Gillott – industrialist
• Tommy Godwin – (Racing cyclist and Olympic medallist)
• Ashia Hansen – (Athlete)
• James Hinks – (Bred the Bull Terrier dog)
• Alex Hughes – (Cartoonist)
• Washington Irving – (Author)
• Jamelia – (RnB singer)
• John Joubert – (South African-born composer)
• Roi Kwabena – (author)
• Robert Lloyd – (Musician - The Nightingales))
• Louis MacNeice – (Poet)
• Stuart Maconie – (Radio DJ and television presenter)
• Josiah Mason – (Industrialist and philanthropist)
• Nigel Mansell – (Racing driver)
• Cardinal Newman – (Theologian and founder of the English Oratory)
• William McGregor – (Instrumental in forming the football league)

• William Murdoch – (Inventor of gas lighting)
• Bill Oddie – (Comedian and ornithologist)
• John Peel – (Radio DJ)
• Sadie Plant – (Author)
• Elizabeth "Tetty" Porter – wife of Samuel Johnson
• Joseph Priestley – (Chemist and dissenting clergyman)
• Sir Simon Rattle – (conductor of CBSO 1980-1998)
• John Ray – ("the father of English natural history")
• Sir Peter Rigby – (Entrepreneur)
• Mike Skinner – (Musician - The Streets)
• Sir Benjamin Stone – (Pioneering photographer)
• Simon Sturridge – (Footballer)
• Dean Sturridge – (Footballer)
• Daniel Sturridge – (Footballer)
• Dave Swarbrick – (Musician)
• J. R. R. Tolkien – (Author)
• Joshua Toulmin – (Non-conformist preacher)
• Joshua Toulmin Smith – (Political theorist)
• Ruby Turner – (singer)
• UB 40 – (reggae group)
• Julie Walters – (Actress)
• Bill Ward – (Musician - Black Sabbath)
• James Watt – (Inventor and member of the Lunar Society)
• Una White – Subject of public art-work
• William Withering – (Doctor, discoverer of digitalis)
• Victoria Wood – (Actress)
• John Skirrow Wright – (Social improver)
• John Wyndham – (Author)
• Alastair Yates – (Radio and television presenter)
• Dorian Yates – (6x Mr. Olympia)

See also

• Alumni of the University of Birmingham

Zita Sattar (Actress)

External links

• Famous People Birmingham City Council feature page on Birmingham-related celebrities
• Blue Plaques erected by Birmingham Civic Society
• The Great Bull Birmingham bus network map featuring local celebrities.