Middlesbrough - Notable People

Notable People

The world-famous explorer, navigator, and map maker Captain James Cook was born in Marton, which is now a suburb in the south of Middlesbrough.

Other famous people from Middlesbrough include:

Sports

• Rob Smedley, Formula One race engineer for Felipe Massa
• Footballers Brian Clough, Wilf Mannion, Jacky Carr, Don Revie, Alan Peacock, Peter Beagrie, Chris Kamara, Mark Proctor, Stuart Ripley, Gary Gill, Phil Stamp, Tommy Mooney, Keith Houchen and Jonathan Woodgate, as well as current England players Stewart Downing and Matt Jarvis.
• Middlesbrough Football Club Chairman Steve Gibson
• Rugby union players Rory Underwood and Alan Old
• Cricketers Liam Plunkett, Geoff Cook, Bill Athey and Chris Old
• Boxer Paul Truscott
• Darts players Glenn Moody and Colin Osborne
• Billiards players Mike Russell and Dave Causier.
• Olympic swimmer Jack Hatfield and Commonwealth Games swimmer Alyson Jones
• Olympic cyclist Chris Newton
• Former British long jump record holding athlete Chris Tomlinson
• Former Premiership referee Jeff Winter
• Junior World and European Track Cycling Champion David Daniell
• The Football Association's Director of Communications Adrian Bevington
• The Paralympic Athlete Jade Jones who competed in the 2012 Paralympics

The Arts

• Models Jade McSorley and Preeti Desai, who was Miss Great Britain 2006
• Comedians Dave Morris, Bob Mortimer, Roy Chubby Brown and Kevin Connelly
• Musicians Cyril Smith, Chris Rea, Paul Rodgers, Micky Moody, Alistair Griffin, Vin Garbutt, Chris Corner and Stephen Mark Barchan
• Actors Wendy Richard, Thelma Barlow, Christopher Quinten, Elizabeth Carling, Mark Benton, Jerry Desmonde, Jamie Parker and Neil Grainger.
• Writers Ann Jellicoe – playwright and theatre director, novelists Ernest William Hornung, Richard Milward and Wally K Daly, TV and radio scriptwriter
• Visual artists Fred Appleyard, Robert Nixon, Mackenzie Thorpe, Chris Dooks and William Tillyer
• Author, educator, historian and lecturer Paul C. Doherty
• Roman Catholic and Dominican priest, theologian and philosopher, Herbert McCabe
• Antiques Expert David Harper

Other Entertainers

• Magician Paul Daniels, Pete Firman
• TV Presenter Kirsten O'Brien
• X Factor third-place contestants Journey South
• X Factor finalist Amelia Lily
• Any Dream Will Do third-place contestant Lewis Bradley
• Magician/Comedian John Archer
• Over the Rainbow (UK TV series) quarter-finalist Jessica Robinson (performer)

Other eminent sons and daughters of Middlesbrough and its environs include Martin Narey (1955–present), chief executive of Barnardo's, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer for England, E. W. Hornung, the creator of the gentleman-crook Raffles (who was fluent in three Yorkshire dialects), and Naomi Jacob novelist. Florence Easton, the Wagnerian soprano at the New York Met and Cyril Smith (1909–1974), the concert pianist, were also natives. The famous MP Ellen Wilkinson wrote a novel Clash (1929) which paints a very positive picture of "Shireport" (Middlesbrough). The classic study, At The Works (1907), by Florence Bell (1851–1930), gives a striking picture of the area at the turn of the 19th to 20th century. She also edited the letters of her stepdaughter Gertrude Bell (1868–1926), which has been continuously in print since 1927. Pat Barker's debut novel Union Street was set on the thoroughfare of the same name in the town. The Jonny Briggs series of books, written by Joan Eadington (and later to become a BBC Children's TV series of the same name, was also based in the town.

Ford Madox Ford (1873–1939) was billeted in Eston during the Great War (1914–18) and his great novel sequence Parade's End is partly set in Busby Hall, Carlton-in-Cleveland.

Adrian "Six Medals" Warburton, air photographer, was played by Alec Guinness in Malta Story.

The great model maker Richard Old (1856–1932) resided for most of his life at 6 Ruby Street.