52.4791° N, 1.9017° W
BIRMINGHAM
Most Famous People Born in Birmingham, United Kingdom
- Notable people
- 1,855
- Peak decade
- 1960s
- Median birth year
- 1945
- Most distinctive
- Cricket 4.2×
England's second city, and the engine room of the Industrial Revolution. Birmingham's distinctive professions are cricketers, boxers, footballers, and musicians — the last because the city produced an outsized share of the British heavy-metal scene, from Black Sabbath (Ozzy, Geezer Butler, Bill Ward) through Judas Priest and ELO. Matthew Boulton, Francis Galton, and Neville Chamberlain all belong to the 19th-century Midlands establishment that built the place.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Birmingham during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1960s with 216 notable births.
What Birmingham Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Football is Birmingham's biggest profession — 25% of all notables (467).
Birmingham over-indexes on cricket — 4.2× the global rate.
Birmingham under-produces politician — only 0.3× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Birmingham's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Film & TV
- Writing
- Music
- Art & Design
- Science
- Other
- Field: Politician Clear ×
Neville Chamberlain
1869 - 1940
Austen Chamberlain
1863 - 1937
David Willetts
Born 1956
Clare Short
Born 1946
Robert Kilroy-Silk
Born 1942
Colin Jordan
1923 - 2009
Steve Webb
Born 1965
Digby Jones, Baron Jones of Birmingham
Born 1955
John Hemming (politician)
Born 1960
Lee Mantle
1851 - 1934
John Taylor, Baron Taylor of Warwick
Born 1952
Will Thorne
1857 - 1946
Jon Gerrard
Born 1947
Matt Carthy
Born 1977
Denis Howell
1923 - 1998
Keith Bradley, Baron Bradley
Born 1950
Nus Ghani
Born 1972
Jane Davidson
Born 1957
Rob Flello
Born 1966
John Mogg, Baron Mogg
Born 1943
Paul Uppal
Born 1967
Pratap Chitnis, Baron Chitnis
1936 - 2013
Ronald Cartland
1907 - 1940
Geoffrey Filkin, Baron Filkin
Born 1944
Peter Bradley (politician)
Born 1953
Shabana Mahmood
Born 1980
Doris Fisher, Baroness Fisher of Rednal
1919 - 2005
William Jay Smith (Tennessee politician)
1823 - 1913
Jess Phillips
Born 1981
Peter Bennett, 1st Baron Bennett of Edgbaston
1880 - 1957
Ruth Cadbury
Born 1959
Lynne Jones
Born 1951
Preet Gill
Born 1972
Stephanie Peacock (politician)
Born 1986
Andrew MacKay
Born 1949
Eleanor Smith (politician)
-
Julius Elias, 1st Viscount Southwood
1873 - 1946
Mike Foster (Worcester MP)
Born 1963
Eddie Hughes (British politician)
Born 1968
Jackie Lawrence (politician)
Born 1948
Holcombe Ingleby
1854 - 1926
Arthur Blyth
1823 - 1890
Patrick Hall (politician)
Born 1951
John Gunnell
1933 - 2008
Thomas Paterson
1882 - 1952
Cyril Lloyd
1876 - 1963
Tony Dean (Canadian senator)
Born 1953
Bill Anderton
1891 - 1966
Hubert Beaumont (Labour politician)
1883 - 1948
John Hollingworth (politician)
1930 - 2018
Martyn Evans
Born 1953
Neville Blyth
1825 - 1890
Allan Studholme
1846 - 1919
Edgar Allan
1842 - 1905
David Hill (Labour adviser)
-
Cornelius Ham
1837 - 1909
Kenneth Bolton
1907 - 1996
Florence Eshalomi
-
Paul Tilsley
-
Chris Ward (Canadian politician)
Born 1949
Peter Neilson (politician born 1954)
Born 1954
Charles Moffatt Jenkinson
1865 - 1954
Norman Levi
1927 - 2015
James B. Hawkes
1857 - 1936
Edward Corser
1852 - 1928
Thomas Syme Warry
1819 - 1864
Dave Grills
Born 1959
Robert Alfred Tarlton
1828 - 1918
Tony O'Gorman
Born 1958
A. J. McClung
1912 - 2002
Joseph Penzer
1830 - 1905
Freda Westwood
1924 - 2011
Charles F. Cooper (politician)
1852 - 1919