List of people from the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of people from Oldham, in North West England. The demonym of Oldham is Oldhamer; however, this list may include people from Chadderton, Failsworth, Lees, Royton, Saddleworth, and Shaw and Crompton, all from the wider Metropolitan Borough of Oldham. This list is arranged alphabetically by surname:
A
- Sir Elkanah Armitage (1794–1876) – industrialist and Mayor of Manchester; born in Failsworth[1]
- Mike Atherton (born 1968) – broadcaster, journalist and retired cricketer for Lancashire and England; born in Failsworth[2]
B
- Vera Baird (born 1950) – Labour politician, MP for Redcar, author and barrister[3][4]
- Bobby Ball (1944–2020) – one half of comedy double act Cannon and Ball; born in Boundary Park General Hospital[5][6]
- Tony Barber (born 1940) − radio and television host and Gold Logie winner[7]
- Lydia Becker (1827–1890) – leading 19th-century suffragette, born in Chadderton's Foxdenton Hall[8]
- Hannah Beswick (1688–1758) – woman who was so afraid of being buried alive that she insisted on her body being embalmed and kept above ground[9][10]
- Christopher Biggins (born 1948) – television presenter, pantomime actor and winner of 2007's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here![11]
- Scholes Birch (1826–1910) – first-class cricketer
- Lally Bowers (1914–1984) – actress, and next door neighbour to Dora Bryan
- Richard Bowker (born 1966) - railway businessman
- Helen Bradley (1900–1979) – 20th-century oil painter born in Lees in 1900[12]
- Benjamin Brierley (1825–1896) – Failsworth-born weaver, poet and writer in Lancashire dialect[8]
- Louise Brown (born 1978) – world's first baby conceived by in vitro fertilisation; born in Oldham General Hospital[5][13]
- Dora Bryan (1923–2014) – Parbold-born actress, best known for her role in A Taste of Honey and as Roz in Last of the Summer Wine[5]
- Will Buckley (born 1989) – footballer for Sunderland
C
- Tommy Cannon (born 1938) – one half of comedy double act Cannon and Ball[5][6]
- Ronald Castree (born 1953) – murderer convicted for the killing of Lesley Molseed[14][15][16]
- Laurence Chaderton (c. 1536–1640) – one of the original translators of the Authorized King James Version of the Bible[17]
- Brian Clarke (born 1953) – Oldham-born architectural artist and painter known for his work in stained glass[5][18]
- J. R. Clynes (1869–1949) – Labour politician, MP for Manchester North East, Leader of the Labour Party, 1921–22[19]
- Olivia Cooke (born 1993) – TV and film actress known for Bates Motel, Ouija and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl; from Oldham
- Jodie Connor (born 1981) – recording artist, lyricist, fashion model and goodwill ambassador for The Prince's Trust; from Shaw and Crompton[20]
- Nicholas Connor (born 1999) – film director, born in Oldham
- Carl Cox (born 1962) – record producer and DJ, born in Oldham
- Brian Cox (born 1968) – Chadderton-born television presenter, particle physicist, Royal Society research fellow, and professor at the University of Manchester[21][22]
- Bernard Cribbins (1928–2022) – character actor and musical comedian[23]
- Don Cupitt (born 1934) – English philosopher of religion and scholar of Christian theology
D
- Agyness Deyn (born 1983) – Failsworth-raised supermodel[24][25]
- David Dyson (1823–1856) - naturalist, scientific collector, curator and weaver
E
- Paul Edwards (born 1947) – ex-association footballer who played for Manchester United, Oldham Athletic and Stockport County[26]
- Karen Elson (born 1979) – Chadderton-raised supermodel and singer-songwriter[27][28][29]
F
- Kate Fenton (born 1954) – Failsworth-born novelist and former BBC radio producer
- Siobhan Finneran (born 1966) – Oldham-born television, film and theatre actress; Happy Valley and The Loch
- George Ford (born 1993) – Oldham-born England rugby union player
- Des Foy (born 1963) – Great Britain, Ireland and Oldham rugby league footballer; Director of Rugby League Ireland[30][31]
- Roy Fuller (1912–1991) – Failsworth-born writer, known mostly as a poet
- Kelvin Fletcher (born- 1984) - Former Emmerdale Actor
G
- Ian Greaves (1932–2009) – Shaw and Crompton-born association football player and manager; one of the Busby Babes[32][33]
- Nick Grimshaw (born 1984) – television presenter and DJ; raised in Oldham[34]
- Shobna Gulati (born 1966) – Oldham-born actress, writer and dancer[6]
H
- Terry Hall (1926–2007) – pioneering ventriloquist and early children's television entertainer[35][36]
- Philip Gilbert Hamerton (1834–1894) – etcher, painter and art critic; born in Crompton in 1834[37]
- Graham Harding (born 1966) – cricketer
- Paul Harrison (born 1945) – Oldham-born writer on environment and development; founder of the World Pantheist Movement[38]
- Jack Hilton (1900–1983) – British novelist, essayist, and travel writer
- John Hogan (1884–1943) – Royton-born recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the British and Commonwealth forces[39]
- Prof Arthur Hutchinson (1889–1969) – professor of dentistry
I
- Inspiral Carpets (first formed 1980) – Madchester/indie rock band[5]
J
- Nicole Jackson (born 1992) – professional ice hockey player for Göteborg HC and the Great Britain women's national ice hockey team
- Lee Jasper (born 1958) – race equality activist and champion of over 30 years originally from Manchester
- Suranne Jones (born 1978) – Chadderton-born actress who played Karen McDonald in Coronation Street[40]
- William Joyce (1906–1946) – Brooklyn-born fascist politician and Nazi propagandist; short-term resident of Glodwick in Oldham[41]
K
- Annie Kenney (1879–1953) – one of the first suffragettes to be imprisoned for protesting for women's suffrage[5][8]
- Ian Kershaw (born 1943) – historian, regarded by many as one of the world's leading experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany
- Anne Kirkbride (1954–2015) – soap opera actress best known for playing Deirdre Barlow in Coronation Street[23][42]
- Jack Kirkbride (1923–2006) – cartoonist who worked for the Oldham Evening Chronicle[42]
- John Kneller (1916–2009) – English-American professor and fifth President of Brooklyn College[43]
- Barbara Knox (born 1933) – soap opera actress best known for playing Rita Sullivan in Coronation Street[23]
L
- Sarah Lancashire (born 1964) – Oldham-born television actress[44]
- John Lees – Royton-born inventor who made a substantial improvement to machinery for carding cotton in 1772[45]
- Joseph Lees (1748–1824) – regional dialect poet from Glodwick; wrote Jone o Grinfilt[46][47]
- Ralf Little (born 1980) – television actor, best known for his roles in The Royle Family and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps[48]
- Eric Longworth (1918–2008) – Shaw-born actor, best known for his semi-regular part in sitcom Dad's Army, as the town clerk of Walmington-on-Sea[49][50]
M
- Michelle Marsh (born 1982) – glamour model and page 3 girl[51]
- Matthew Maynard (born 1966) – former England Test cricketer[52]
- William McDougall (1871–1938) – Chadderton-born psychologist and writer of several highly influential textbooks[53]
- Liz McInnes (born 1959) – former Labour MP for Heywood and Middleton North
- Fergus Mills (1840–1924) – member of the Wisconsin State Assembly[54]
- Simon Moore (born 1974) – cricketer
N
- N-Trance (formed 1990) – dance music producers[5]
O
P
- David Platt (born 1966) – association footballer, formerly captain of the England national football team; born in Chadderton[5][57][58][59]
- Tony Prince (born 1944) – British radio disc jockey and businessman
R
- Tony Radakin (born 1965) – senior Royal Navy officer
- Akke Rahman (born 1982) – British Bengali mountaineer[60]
- Alan Rankle (born 1952) – artist[61]
- Jim Ratcliffe (born 1952) – founder and CEO of Ineos, raised in Failsworth
- Hervey Rhodes, Baron Rhodes (1895–1987) – Greenfield-born Labour party politician and life peer[62]
- Andy Ritchie (born 1960) – former Oldham Athletic player and manager[6]
- Roy Rolland (1921–1997) – comedian and stage actor who appeared as Old Mother Riley from the 1950s to 1980s[63]
- Alan Rothwell (born 1937) – actor and television presenter
- Clive Rowe (born 1964) – actor
S
- Sahil Saeed (born 2004) – British Pakistani from Shaw and Crompton who was kidnapped for ransom in Pakistan in 2010[64][65][66][67]
- Phillip Schofield (born 1962) – Oldham-born television presenter[5][57]
- Paul Sculthorpe (born 1977) – England and St Helens RLFC player and captain
- Ruth Shevelen (born 1992) – trampoline gymnast
- Julian Shevlin (born 1967) – violinist; principal Concert Master with Munich Philharmonic[68]
- Edward Sinclair (1914–1977) – television actor, Dad's Army
- Kevin Sinfield (born 1980) – England and Leeds RLFC player and captain
- Nicola Stephenson (born 1971) – television actress[57]
- Philip Sydney Stott, 1st Baronet (1858–1937) – Chadderton-born architect, civil engineer and surveyor of cotton mills[69]
- William Stott (1857–1900) – impressionist painter[70]
- Eric Sykes (1923–2012) – comedy writer and actor[71]
T
- Henry Taylor (1885–1951) – British Olympic freestyle swimming triple gold medallist and champion[72][73][74]
- Kevin Thaw (born 1967) – alpinist, climber; many first and notable ascents, member of the North Face climbing team, Altitude Everest Expedition 2007
- Stephen Timms (born 1955) – British Labour Party politician and MP for East Ham[75]
- Geoff Tootill (1922–2017) – Chadderton-born scientist helped create the Manchester Baby in 1948, the world's first wholly electronic stored program computer[76]
- Dame Eva Turner (1892–1990) – soprano opera singer; born in Werneth[77]
- Twisted Wheel (formed 2007) – punk rock trio; reside in Oldham
W
- Jane Walsh (born c. 1905) – textile worker and writer[78]
- Paul Walsh (born 1955) – Chadderton-born Chief Executive of Diageo[79]
- Sir William Walton (1902–1983) – composer and conductor[80]
- Darren Wharton (born 1961) – keyboardist for rock band Thin Lizzy
- Nicola White (born 1988) – hockey player for England and Team GB
- Annie Whitehead (born 1955) – jazz trombone player[81]
- Ronald Whittam (1925–2023) - physiologist[82][83]
- Ricky Whittle (born 1979) – Oldham-born model and actor[84]
- Jack Wild (1952–2006) – Royton-born Academy Award-nominated actor, played the Artful Dodger in the 1968 musical film Oliver![85][86]
- Phil Woolas (born 1959) – Lincolnshire-born politician representing Oldham East and Saddleworth; lives in Lees[87]
- Arthur Worsley (1920–2001) – Failsworth-born ventriloquist; appeared regularly on British television from the 1950s to the 1970s