Frome - Notable People

Notable People

See also Category:People from Frome

• Benjamin Baker, builder of the Forth Bridge, was born in Frome in 1840.
• The Formula One racing driver and 2009 world champion Jenson Button was born in Frome in 1980. He went to Selwood Middle School in Frome, and his mother still lives nearby. A street, Jenson Avenue, has been named after him, as has a new bridge over the River Frome 'The Jenson Button Bridge'. In May 2010, Button was awarded freedom of the town.
• Cara Dillon, Irish folk singer, and her husband, musician and record producer Sam Lakeman (brother of Seth Lakeman), have lived in Frome since 2002.
• The cricketer Colin Dredge was born in Frome in 1954.
• Eadred (or Edred) (923-955), King of England between 944 and 955, died in Frome on 23 November of that year.
• Alfred Pee Wee Ellis (born 1941 in Bradenton, Florida), saxophonist, composer and arranger, lives locally. He was an important member of James Brown's band in the 1960s. He also worked closely with Van Morrison.
• The philosopher Joseph Glanvill was Vicar of Frome from 1662 to 1666.
• Danny Goffey of the rock band Supergrass, and his wife Pearl Lowe of the band Powder, live in the town.
• Guy Green, film director, screenwriter, and cinematographer who won an Oscar for Great Expectations, was born at 4 Portway in Frome in 1913.
• Charlie Higson of The Fast Show was born in Frome in 1958.
• Actor James Laurenson lives in the town.
• Lois Maxwell, who played Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond film series from 1962 to 1985, lived in Frome from 1994 to 2001.
• Kevin McCloud, presenter of TV's Grand Designs lives near Frome.
• Sir Charles Oatley, developer of one of the first commercial scanning electron microscopes, was born at 5 Badcox in Frome in 1904.
• Anthony Powell, writer of A Dance to the Music of Time, lived near Frome from 1952 to his death in 2000.
• William Henry "Billy" Reed, violinist, composer and biographer of Edward Elgar, was born in Christ Church Street in Frome in 1875.
• Kate Rew, author and wild swimmer.
• Christina Rossetti (poet, and sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti), helped her mother run a day school in Frome in 1853/4.
• Henry Thomas Ryall, royal engraver to Queen Victoria, was born in Frome in 1811.
• Richard Vranch of Whose Line Is It Anyway? was born in Frome in 1959.
• Sir Charles Wilkins, the first translator of Bhagavad Gita into English, was born in Frome around 1749.
• Kerry Wilkinson, one of Amazon's top-10 bestselling authors worldwide for 2011, went to Oakfield Middle School and Frome Community College.