Famous People of Somerset

Here are some Famous People From Somerset
(The people named below have either lived in Somerset or have Somerset connections)

If you would like us to add someone please email: tourism@somerset.gov.uk with your suggestion.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (poet & philosopher) lived at Nether Stowey from 1797 to 1799

William Wordsworth lived in Somerset for a year

Michael Eavis (local farmer & organiser of Glastonbury Festival lives near Glastonbury

Arthur C Clarke (author) lived in Taunton

Evelyn Waugh (author) lived in Somerset

Sir Cameron Macintosh (producer of musicals including Cats, Oliver and Les Misérables )

Andrew Cross (experimented with electricity at Fyne Court, Broomfield)

Frankie Howerd (actor)

John Cleese (actor, author)

Jill Dando (TV presenter, journalist)

Sir Henry Irvine (an English stage actor in the Victorian era)

Robert Blake (one of the most famous English admirals of the 17th century)

Fay Weldon (author)

Penelope Lively (author)

Jekyll & Lutyens (designed some Somerset gardens)

William Rees Mogg (lives in Mells)

TS Elliot (ashes are in East Coker)

John Pym (leader of the Opposition)

Margaret Bondfield (1st woman cabinet minister - early 20th century)

King Arthur ('once and future king'.)

King Alfred The Great (Anglo-Saxon king who defended England against Danish invasion)

Edward Phelips (a lawyer re: the Gunpowder Plot)

Julia Somerville (newsreader)

Lord Tedder (Founder of RAF - 1st World War, lived in Taunton)

Sir John Harvey-Jones (business consultant)

Charles Dance (actor)

Robert Robinson (TV personality)

William Waldergrave (Baron Waldegrave of North Hill)

Col John Rouse Merriott Chard VC (Colonel at Rourkes Drift fort - Zulu Wars)

Peter Gabriel (musician)

Georgie Fame (musician)

Acker Bilk (musician)

Sir Ranulf Fiennes (explorer)

Martin Pipe (racehorse trainer)

Dr Robert Dunning (author, historian)

Don MuCullin (photographer)

David Shepherd (artist)

Terry Pratchett (author)

John Leach (potter)

Robin Bush (author, historian / TV's Time Team)

Jenson Button (racing driver)

Captain Scott (explorer)

John Steinbeck (author)

Elizabeth Goodge (author)

Margaret Drabble (author)

Micheal Holroid (author)

Patrick Reyntiens (stained glass maker)

Racheal Reckitt (artist, engraver)

George Williams (founder of YMCA)

Andy Elson (Balloonist - holder of world record)

Ian Botham (former Somerset / England cricketer)

Viv Richards (former Somerset cricketer)

Mary Rand (Olympic Athelete, lived in Wells)

Simon King (Wildlife Photographer)