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: Writer Clear ×
John Wyndham
1903 - 1969
Sax Rohmer
1883 - 1959
Jonathan Coe
Born 1961
Lindsey Davis
Born 1949
John McEnery
1943 - 2019
R. J. Ellory
Born 1965
Elizabeth Jolley
1923 - 2007
Barrington J. Bayley
1937 - 2008
Jed Mercurio
Born 1966
Sally Gardner
Born 1954
Kate Cary
Born 1967
Sepharial
1864 - 1929
Zana Muhsen
Born 1965
Michael G. Coney
1932 - 2005
K. M. Peyton
Born 1929
Louisa Anne Meredith
1812 - 1895
Constance Naden
1858 - 1889
Adam Nevill
Born 1969
Kit de Waal
Born 1960
Elizabeth J. Braswell
Born 1950
Frederic M. Halford
1844 - 1914
Howard Carter (Pentecostal pioneer)
1891 - 1971
Barbara Sleigh
1906 - 1982
James Barlow (author)
1921 - 1973
Andrew Grant (writer)
Born 1968
Jeffery Farnol
1878 - 1952
Nicola Davies (author)
Born 1958
Paul Crawford (academic)
Born 1963
Alan Burgess
1915 - 1998
Imogen Edwards-Jones
Born 1968
Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck
1778 - 1856
Anthony Slide
Born 1944
Brother XII
1878 - 1934
Verily Anderson
1915 - 2010
Joseph Henry Shorthouse
1834 - 1903
George Mogridge (Old Humphrey)
1787 - 1854
Isobel Lambot
1926 - 2001
Steve Augarde
Born 1950
Mike Chinn
Born 1954
Samuel Sidney
1813 - 1883
Harry Price (Royal Navy seaman)
1877 - 1965
Peter Morris (writer)
Born 1962
Carlton Wallace
1903 - 1980
Steuart Campbell
Born 1937
John Peter Sloan
1969 - 2020
Scott Handcock
Born 1984
Hubert Hessell Tiltman
1897 - 1976
Julia Goddard
1825 - 1896
Jackie Morris
Born 1961
James Allen (Australian colonial author)
1806 - 1886
Douglas Enefer
1910 - 1987
Richard Sutton (actor)
Born 1978
J. P. Wearing
Born 1945
Laurence Sullivan
Born 1992
Liam Brown
Born 1985
Harvey Withers
Born 1965
Jane Bragg Pitman
1825 - 1877