Notable Residents (past and Present)
Main category: People from Guildford- Literature
Guildford has been the home of several notable writers. Lewis Carroll, author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, had a house in Guildford and is buried in the Mount Cemetery. Edward Carpenter, the socialist poet and homosexuality equality activist, moved to the town after the First World War and lived there until his death in 1929 and is buried in the same hillside cemetery. Other authors from the town include Gerald Seymour, writer of Harry's Game Albert Jack and New York Times film critic Mordaunt Hall. Author and charactacurist P. G. Wodehouse was born prematurely in Guildford in 1881 while his mother was visiting the town. Christian writer and biographer Joyce Reason was a resident of the town, as was novelist Kazuo Ishiguro. Piers Morgan, journalist and TV biographical interviewer was born in Guildford.
- Music
In music, Guildford lays claim to rock group The Stranglers, who were based in the town in the early 1970s and were briefly known as "The Guildford Stranglers". Drummer Jet Black ran an off-licence in the town and bass player Jean Jacques Burnel attended the Royal Grammar School. Progressive rock musicians Mike Rutherford, of Genesis and Andrew Latimer of the band Camel, were born in Guildford, as was jazz saxophonist Iain Ballamy. In early 21st century music, drum and bass producers Cause 4 Concern and Sub Focus are from the town. Drummer/backing vocalist of Queen, Roger Taylor, currently lives in Guildford.
- In stage, screen and the press
- Deceased:
Yvonne Arnaud (1890-1958), singer and actress has the legacy of her theatre (see above); later the town was the home of comic director, writer and actor Mackenzie Taylor (1978-2010).
- Living:
Edward Kelsey, who plays Joe Grundy in The Archers, Stuart Wilson TV then film actor with major roles in The Age of Innocence and The Mask of Zorro and Bonnie Langford. Terry Jones, the Monty Python writer, went to the Royal Grammar School from 1953–61.
- Sport
Guildford has been home to driver Katherine Legge and sprinter Allan Wells, gold medallist in the 100 metres at the 1980 Olympics. Matt Jarvis, a current football player for West Ham United also grew up in Guildford and attended George Abbot School. WWE wrestler Paul Burchill lives in Guildford
- Others
Cartoonist Piers Baker (made Ollie and Quentin); the model Jodie Kidd, who was born in the town; Holly Samos – radio researcher and presenter lives here. Many of mathematician, logician and cryptographer, Alan Turing's earliest years were in this town where his family lived; Michael Buerk, BBC newsreader; Roger Fry, the English artist, critic and member of the Bloomsbury Group lived in the house (Durbins) he designed and built in the town from 1909 to 1919;.
The fictional Ford Prefect from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, claimed to be from Guildford, though in fact he was from a planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse.
Read more about this topic: Park Barn Estate
Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or residents:
“In one notable instance, where the United States Army and a hundred years of persuasion failed, a highway has succeeded. The Seminole Indians surrendered to the Tamiami Trail. From the Everglades the remnants of this race emerged, soon after the trail was built, to set up their palm-thatched villages along the road and to hoist tribal flags as a lure to passing motorists.”
—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“In most nineteenth-century cities, both large and small, more than 50 percent—and often up to 75 percent—of the residents in any given year were no longer there ten years later. People born in the twentieth century are much more likely to live near their birthplace than were people born in the nineteenth century.”
—Stephanie Coontz (20th century)