Bournemouth - Notable Residents

Notable Residents

  • J. R. R. Tolkien, the writer, spent 30 years taking holidays in Bournemouth, staying in the same room at the Hotel Miramar, with a second room to write in. He eventually retired to the area in the 1960s with his wife Edith, where they lived in a house on Lakeside Avenue, close to Branksome Chine. Tolkien died in September 1973 at his home in Bournemouth and was buried in Oxfordshire.
  • Mary Shelley, the writer and novelist is buried in St. Peter's Church, her son Sir Percy having settled at Boscombe Manor. Also buried at St Peter's is the heart of Mary's husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, brought back from Italy, and her parents William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, their remains having been moved there from St Pancras Old Church.
  • The comedian and actor Tony Hancock lived in Bournemouth (specifically the Winton area) for much of his early life. Hancock's father ran the Railway Hotel on Holdenhurst Road.
  • Actors Stewart Granger, then James Labache Stewart, and Christian Bale have resided in the borough.
  • Robert Louis Stevenson wrote The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and most of his novel Kidnapped from his house "Skerryvore" on the west cliff (now called Alum Chine Road).
  • Count Vladimir Chertkov established a Tolstoyan publishing house with other Russian exiles in Iford Waterworks at Southbourne, and under the 'Free Age Press' imprint, published the first edition of several works by Tolstoy.
  • The composer Hubert Parry of Jerusalem fame, was born in Bournemouth and lived in a house close to the Square.
  • Boxer, Freddie Mills, who won the World Light Heavyweight title in 1948, was born and raised in Terrace Road, Bournemouth.
  • The athlete Charles Bennett, lived in the town after he retired. Bennett, was the first British track and field athlete to become Olympic Champion, winning two gold medals and a silver at the Paris Games in 1900.

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Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or residents:

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