Famous people with a connection to Slough

Historic before 20th century

Cecil Aldin (1870-1935) – Painter of animals and rural life

James Thomas Bedborough (1787–1860) – Stonemason, worked on Windsor Castle and Upton Park, Davina McCall Television presenter is a great-great-great-granddaughter, father's side.

Richard Bentley (1794-1871) – Publisher of Dickens’ novels among others

Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) – Engineer

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) – Writer

Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) – astronomer and assistant to her brother William

John Herschel (Sir) (1792-1871) – Mathematician, astronomer, botanist

William Herschel (Sir) (1738-1822) – Astronomer, scientist and composer

William James Herschel (1833-1917) – Scientist. First to understand that fingerprints are unique to individuals

Richard, 1^st Earl of Cornwall (1209-1272) – Plantagenet. Had his home at a palace which stood on the site of Cippenham Moat

Nelly Ternan (1839-1914) – Actress, mistress of Charles Dickens

Politics

Stanley Baldwin (1867-1947) – Prime Minister attended St Michael's School, Aldin House

Steven Bell (1951) – Political cartoonist for The Guardian, raised in Slough and attended Upton Court Grammar school

William Peter Bradshaw (1936) – Also known as Bill Bradshaw and Baron Bradshaw. A Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords. Attended Slough Grammar School.

Fenner Brockway (1888-1988) – Politician and anti-war activist

Alan Johnson (1950) – Cabinet minister, lived in Slough

Joan Lestor (1931-1998) – MP for Slough (Labour), Baroness Lestor of Eccles

Fiona McTaggart (1953) – MP for Slough since 1997 (Labour)

Anthony Meyer (1920-2004) –MP for Slough (Conservative)

Beryl Catherine Platt (1923-2015) – Baroness Platt of Writtle CBE, DL, FREng. A Conservative member of the House of Lords. Studied aeronautical engineering and worked at Hawkers flight test department during the Second World War. After the war she worked as an engineer on flight safety for British European Airways.

John Watts (1947-2016) – MP for Slough (Conservative)

Entertainment

Gerry Anderson (1929-2012) – Television producer

Jimmy Carr (1972) – Comedian

Jane Fallon (1960) – Novelist and TV producer. Among her TV productions is EastEnders (from 1985-1994). Novels include Skeletons and Got you back. Attended St Bernard‘s Convent. She is the partner of Ricky Gervais.

Philip Hinchcliffe (1944) – Television producer and writer best known for the sci-fi series Doctor Who from 1974-1977. Other credits include episodes of the TV series Crossroads and production work on Taggart and Rebus.

Jean Shrimpton (1942) – Model and actress. Attended St Bernard’s Convent

Una Stubbs (1937) – Actress and retired dancer. Most famous for her role as Rita, Alf Garnett’s daughter, in the BBC TV sitcom ’Till death do us part

Tracey Ullman (1959) – Comedian. Emigrated to the USA

Music

Cliff Bennett (1940) – Lead singer of Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers

Alan Bown () – Trumpeter, leader of The Alan Bown Set

Mark Brzezicki (1957) – Drummer with Big Country and Procol Harum

Gus Isidore () – Guitarist, also bass guitarist and drummer who played with such acts as Marc Bolan, Phil Lynott, Peter Green, Peter Gabriel and Seal. He is left-handed and plays his guitar the 'upside down and the wrong way round'.

Marian McPartland (1918-2013) – Jazz pianist

Gary Numan (1958) – Singer and musician

Thousand Yard Stare – Indie rock band. Active 1989-1993, reformed 2015

Sport

Ian Gillard (1950) – Footballer who played nearly 400 club matches for QPR and won 3 caps for England.

Brian McDermott (1961) – Footballer and football manager of Slough, Reading, Arsenal and Leeds among others. Attended Herschel High (now Grammar) School.

Sir Stirling Moss OBE (1929) – In 1948 he practiced driving his first racing car around a housing estate under construction in Slough. It was on a weekend when the estate was deserted.

Marcus Willis (1990) – Tennis player. In 2016 ranked 772, beat Ričardas Berankis, ranked more than 700 places above him, at Wimbledon.

Ryan Bird (1987) – Footballer. Played for Burnham, Cambridge United and Portsmouth. Attended Herschel High (now Grammar) School.

Art and Books

Susan Cooper (1935-present) – writer of children’s fantasy books and other genres attended Slough High School.

Gary Flint – Creator of this website was born in Farnham Royal and has lived in Slough ever since.

John King (1960) – Novelist whose works include The Football Factory, Headhunters, England Away, Human Punk, The Prison House and Skinheads.

John Nash (1893-1977) – Artist especially war artist

Henrietta Ward (1832-1924) – Artist

Science and industry

Helen Sharman (1963) – Astronaut and food scientist

Robert Watson-Watt (1892-1973) – Scientist working on radar before the Second World War at Ditton Park

Sydney Camm (1893-1966) – Aircraft designer at Hawker Aircraft, Langley Airfield

Rest peacefully

Princess Margaret (1930-2002) – Died from a heart attack aged 71 at King Edward VII Hospital London on 9th February 2002. Cremated at Slough Crematorium.

Ernie Wise OBE (1925-1999), comedy partner of Eric Morecambe, died from heart failure at The Nuffield Private Hospital Wexham on 21st March 1999. Cremated at Slough Crematorium

Peter Osgood (1947-2006) – Footballer for Chelsea and Southampton, died aged 59 on 1st March 2006 while attending his uncle's funeral at Slough Crematorium.

Brian Connolly (1945-1997) – Singer with 1970s glam rock group The Sweet, died in Wexham Park Hospital on 9th February 1997.

Quotes

Jimmy Carr: ‘I grew up in Slough in the 1970s. If you want to know what Slough was like in the 1970s, go there now.’

Michael Portillo, while visiting Herschel Park in an episode of the BBC TV programme Great Railway Journeys, said: ‘If this beautiful green park wasn’t your view of Slough, and I confess it wasn’t mine, then we should be ashamed of ourselves. We have done an injustice to this fine Berkshire town.’

On an episode of Eight out of Ten Cats does Countdown, Sarah Millican brought a TV showing a football match to point in Sean Lock’s direction to distract him during the game. Sean said ‘Oh, Slough versus Bideford.’ Romesh Ranganathan on Sarah’s side said ’I find the back of TVs fascinating.’ To which Sean replied ‘When you’re watching Slough versus Bideford the back of the TV would be more fascinating.’