- Rugby, Warwickshire
Rugby is a market town in the county of Warwickshire in the West Midlands of England, on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 (2001 census). The larger borough of Rugby has a population of 91,600 (2005 estimate). Rugby is located 13 miles (21 km) east of Coventry, on the eastern edge of Warwickshire, near the borders with Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. The town is most famous as being the credited birthplace of rugby football (see below).
- Wulfrun
Wulfrun is an Anglo-Saxon woman's name which is recorded in these places:- * Year 943 entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that Vikings seized her when they took the fort at Tamworth. [It was likeliest for ransom.] * Listed as a witness in an Anglo-Saxon charter dated 985, which is listed as no. 650 in Kemble's "Codex Diplomaticus Ævi Saxoni". In it King Ethelred II (Ethelred the Unready), granted to Wulfrun ten hides of land at Hēatūn, …
- Liz Lynne
Elizabeth Lynne, known as Liz Lynne, (born 22 January 1948) is a British politician, and has been a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands region for the Liberal Democrats since her election at the 1999 European election. Previously she had been elected as Member of Parliament for Rochdale at the 1992 general election but was defeated at the 1997 general election. Lynne was born in Woking and educated at Dorking County Grammar School.
- Caroline Spelman
Caroline Alice Spelman (4 May, 1958, East Anglia as Caroline Alice Cormack) is a Conservative politician in the United Kingdom who has served as MP for Meriden, West Midlands since 1997. In July of 2007 she replaced Francis Maude as Conservative Party Chairman in a Shadow Cabinet reshuffle by David Cameron. She is a trustee of the sometimes-controversial Conservative Christian Fellowship, …
- Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant (born August 20, 1948, West Bromwich, West Midlands, England) is an English rock singer and songwriter, most famous for his membership in the rock band Led Zeppelin, but also for his successful solo career. He is known for his powerful style, often mystical lyrics, and wide vocal range. As the lead singer of Led Zeppelin he is often defined as the quintessential rock front man, …
- Malcolm Harbour
Malcolm Harbour was elected to the European Parliament in June 1999, and re-elected in June 2004. He is one of three Conservative members representing the West Midlands Region of the UK. He is group leader for the European Centre Right (EPP-ED) on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee.
- Ian Pearson
Ian Phares Pearson (born 5 April 1959, West Midlands) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He is Labour member of Parliament for Dudley South and Minister of State in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. Pearson was educated at Balliol College, Oxford (BA Philosophy, Politics, and Economics) and the University of Warwick (MA, PhD). He entered parliament for Dudley West (now Dudley South) in a by-election in 1994, …
- Michael Cashman
Michael Cashman (born December 17, 1950 in London) is a former British actor, now a Labour politician. He has been a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands constituency since 1999. As an actor, he is possibly best known for his role as Colin Russell in BBC TV's "EastEnders" - a character famous for being the first man to kiss another man in a soap opera in the UK: he also played Mike Wallace in "The Sandbaggers".
- Philip Bushill-Matthews
Philip Bushill-Matthews (born on 15 January 1943 in Droitwich) is a British politician and Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands with the Conservative Party, part of the European Democrats and sits on the European Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs. He is a substitute for the Committee on Foreign Affairs and also a member of the Delegation for relations with Iran. He was first elected to the European Parliament in 1999, …
- Stewart Lee
Stewart Graham Lee (born April 5 1968 in Solihull) is an English stand-up comedian, writer and director probably best known for being one half of the 1990s comedy duo Lee and Herring, and for co-writing and directing the critically-acclaimed and controversial stage show "Jerry Springer - The Opera". He grew up in Solihull in the West Midlands, where he attended Solihull School.
- Philip Bradbourn
Philip Bradbourn OBE MEP (born August 9, 1951, Tipton, West Midlands) is a British politician, and Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands region, for the Conservative Party. He has been a member of the European Parliament since 1999. He was a parliamentary candidate for Wolverhampton South East in the 1992 general election and stood for the European Parliament in County Durham in 1994.
- Richard Burden
Richard Haines Burden (born September 1, 1954) is a UK politician. He is the Labour member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield. Burden was born in Liverpool. He attended the Wallasey Technical Grammar School; Bramhall Comprehensive School; St John's College of Further Education, Manchester; the University of York, …
- Rat
Rat was the stage name of the musician Gareth Pring (born 8 November 1970, in Sedgley, West Midlands). Rat is most famous for being the guitarist in early 1990s indie punk band, Ned's Atomic Dustbin, who had a string of hit singles between 1990 and 1995. Rat was a founding member of the band, and stayed in situ from 1988 to 1995 (although he would briefly leave the band in 1995 on an American tour due to general exhaustion).
- John Thomas
Born Wednesbury, West Midlands, August 8 1958 John Thomas was an English professional footballer who plied his trade in the lower reaches of the Football League.
- Mike Nattrass
Michael (Mike) Nattrass (born December 14, 1945 in Leeds, West Yorkshire) is a British politician, and Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands region for the United Kingdom Independence Party. He was first elected to the European Parliament in 2004. Nattrass was previously a member of the New Britain Party. When Nattrass stood for that party in the Dudley West by-election, 1994, he attracted a mere 146 votes.
- Frank Skinner
Frank Skinner, (born Christopher Graham Collins on 28 January, 1957) is a British writer and comedian, best known for the hit football song "Three Lions" with David Baddiel and The Lightning Seeds as well as presenting, alongside Baddiel, the hit comedy show Fantasy Football League.
- Neena Gill
Neena Gill (born December 24, 1956 in Ludhiana, Punjab, India) is a Member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands for the Labour Party. She has been a member of the European Parliament since 1999. Before being elected she was the chief executive of two housing associations.
- Shafiq Rasul
Shafiq Rasul (born April 15, 1977, in Dudley, West Midlands, England) is best known for being a detainee held at Guantanamo Bay by the United States, which treated him an unlawful combatant. His detainee ID number was 86. His family discovered his detention when the British Foreign Office contacted them on January 21, 2002. He was released in March 2004, shortly after his return to the United Kingdom, more than three months before Rasul v. Bush was decided.
- William James
William James (13 June 1771 - 10 March 1837) was a land agent and surveyor who in 1821 made the original survey for the pioneering Liverpool and Manchester Railway. James was born in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, England, the son of a solicitor. After himself qualifying as a solicitor in Birmingham he returned to practice in his home town.
- Ian Bell
Ian Ronald Bell MBE (born 11 April 1982 in Coventry, West Midlands) is an England Test cricketer. He also plays county cricket for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. In the 2006 New Year Honours List, Ian Bell was awarded the MBE for his role in the successful Ashes campaign of 2005 and in November 2006, he was awarded the prestigious Emerging Player of the Year award by the International Cricket Council.
- Paul Jackson
Paul "ActionJack" Jackson (born 1965?) is an English professional poker player from Birmingham, West Midlands.
- Luke Moore
Luke Moore (born February 13, 1986 in Birmingham, West Midlands) is an English football player who currently plays for Aston Villa as a forward.
- Simon Darby
Simon Darby (born 1965) is a leading member of the British National Party, currently serving as both Director of Information Technology and West Midlands organiser. A computer communications consulatant by trade, Darby began his political career in the National Democrats, most of whose activity was centred around his West Midlands base.
- Lorely Burt
Lorely Jane Burt (born 10 August 1954) is a British politician and the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Solihull. After graduating in economics, Burt began her career in the Prison Service as an assistant governor, before working for several national companies in the field of personnel and training. She later set up a training company, worked as a director in the marketing and financial services sector, …
- Sam Allardyce
Samuel "Sam" Allardyce (born October 19 1954 in Dudley, West Midlands) is an English former professional football player and current football manager. He is currently the manager of Newcastle United of the English Premier League. He was manager of Bolton Wanderers between 1999 and 2007, leading them to a League Cup final and guiding them to UEFA Cup qualification for the first time in their history. He is often referred to by the nickname "Big Sam".
- John Rees
John Rees (born 1957) is a British Trotskyist political activist and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party. He is a former editor of "International Socialism", National Secretary of the Respect coalition, co-founder of the Stop the War Coalition and vice-president (Europe) of the International Campaign Against Aggression on Iraq. He was top of the Respect party list in the West Midlands region for the 2004 European Election, …
- Jack Jones
James Larkin Jones CH MBE (born March 29, 1913), known as Jack Jones, is a former British trade union leader and former General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union. Jones was born in Garston, Liverpool. He left school at 14 and worked as an engineering apprentice, then as a dock-worker. He served with the British Battalion of the XV International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War and he was seriously wounded at the Battle of Ebro in 1938.
- Chris Wood
Christopher Gordon Blandford 'Chris' Wood (born June 24, 1944, in Harborne, Birmingham, Warwickshire - died July 12, 1983, at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, West Midlands) was a founding member of the English rock band Traffic along with Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, and Dave Mason. Wood primarily played flute and saxophone, occasionally contributing keyboards and vocals. Wood was also a co-writer for many of Traffic's songs.
- Matt Wilkinson
Matt Wilkinson is a radio presenter, who can be heard in the afternoons on 96 Trent FM in Nottingham. Before joining Trent in February 2007, Matt was a DJ on the evening show on 100.7 Heart FM in the English west Midlands. He's also worked at the North East's Century FM, and has been the PA announcer for Sunderland AFC.
- Jeremy Peace
Jeremy Roland Peace is the chairman of West Bromwich Albion Football Club, a professional football club in the West Midlands, England. He was elected to the position of chairman in June 2002 following the resignation of Paul Thompson. When Peace took charge of the Albion boardroom, the club had just won promotion to the Premiership after almost 20 years outside the top flight.
- Lee Hughes
Lee Hughes (born in Smethwick, West Midlands, May 22, 1976) is an English footballer, as of 2007 in prison for causing death by dangerous driving.
- Wayne Hennessey
Wayne Hennessey (born January 24, 1987, Anglesey, Wales) is a Wales international footballer. His position is goalkeeper. He plays for Wolverhampton Wanderers - having progressed through the club's youth-team system. He has been offered a new contract with Wolves running until 2008 Hennessey has been capped by Wales at Under-19 and Under-21 level. He made his full international debut for Wales in a friendly versus New Zealand in May 2007.
- Zat Knight
Zatyiah "Zat" Knight (born May 2 1980 in Solihull, West Midlands) is an English footballer currently playing for Fulham Football Club in London, England. He is a very imposing figure, standing at 6 ft 6 in and was signed from Rushall Olympic in exchange for 30 tracksuits. As Knight was not a professionally contracted player to Olympic, Fulham were not obliged to pay a fee for him and sent the clothing as a gesture of thanks.
- Mohammad Naseem
Mohammad Naseem, born in 1924, is a former GP and the chairman of the Birmingham Mosque Trust (Birmingham Central Mosque), one of the largest and most prominent Islamic places of worship in the United Kingdom. Born in Amritsar in British India, Naseem was educated mainly in Pakistan and then in England where he trained to become and served as a General Practitioner for many years and also specialised in the medical procedure of circumcision, …
- Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ronald Antonio "Ronnie" O'Sullivan (born December 5, 1975 in Wordsley, West Midlands) is an English professional snooker player, nicknamed "The Rocket" due to his rapid playing style, with other monikers including "The Essex Exocet" and "The Magician". He grew up and still lives in Chigwell, Essex.
- Simon Murphy
Simon Francis Murphy is a Labour Party politician from the United Kingdom. He stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate in Wolverhampton South West in the 1992 general election. He subsequently was elected to the European Parliament in the 1994 election for the Midlands West constituency, which covered Wolverhampton, Dudley and parts of Sandwell. Following the change in the electoral system for the 1999 European election, …
- Peter Buckley
Peter Buckley (born 9 March, 1969 in Birmingham, England) is an English journeyman boxer in the Welterweight division. Although he currently fights at Welterweight division he has competed at a number of divisions either side. Buckley turned pro in October 1989, when he fought at the Colosseum, Stafford, West Midlands, England, only earning a draw with fellow debutant Brixham's Alan Baldwin despite knocking Baldwin down in the early rounds.
- Christine McVie
Christine McVie (born Christine Anne Perfect, July 12, 1943, in Greenodd, Lancashire) is an English singer, keyboardist, and songwriter. Her primary fame came as a member of the band Fleetwood Mac, though she has also released three solo albums.
- Miles Hunt
Miles Hunt (born 29 July 1966, in Birmingham) is the singer / guitarist and songwriter for the Stourbridge (West Midlands England), based pop band The Wonder Stuff.
- Keith Jack
Keith Jack was a contestant on the BBC reality talent show "Any Dream Will Do", which offered the chance to be the next West End Joseph for the hit musical "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat " by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. He was the last contestant to leave the series, losing to Lee Mead in the final on June 9, 2007. Before his appearances on "Any Dream Will Do", …