55.8610° N, 4.2512° W
GLASGOW
Most Famous People Born in Glasgow, United Kingdom
- Notable people
- 3,305
- Peak decade
- 1950s
- Median birth year
- 1943
- Most distinctive
- Football 3.8×
A football city, almost unhealthily so. More than forty per cent of Glasgow's notables are footballers — Old Firm shaped a city's entire celebrity economy — and the next bench down is the actors and singers of a Scottish stage tradition that has produced James McAvoy, Robbie Coltrane, and Mark Knopfler. The 19th-century Clyde shipbuilding boom is the peak that most of the rest of the bench grew out of, and there is also an unusually deep comedy lineage from the working men's clubs that the strict statistical panel doesn't capture but that gave the world Billy Connolly.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Glasgow during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 337 notable births.
What Glasgow Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Football is Glasgow's biggest profession — 42% of all notables (1,378).
Glasgow over-indexes on football — 3.8× the global rate.
Glasgow under-produces writer — only 0.6× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Glasgow's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Politics & Law
- Film & TV
- Writing
- Science
- Music
- Other
- Filtered to 1920s Clear ×
R. D. Laing
1927 - 1989
Alasdair MacIntyre
Born 1929
James Stirling (architect)
1926 - 1992
Victor Turner
1920 - 1983
Gordon Jackson (actor)
1923 - 1990
Tommy Docherty
Born 1928
Benjamin Creme
1922 - 2016
Ivor Cutler
1923 - 2006
Edwin Morgan (poet)
1920 - 2010
Elizabeth Sellars
1923 - 2019
Alexander Trocchi
1925 - 1984
Ian MacNaughton
1925 - 2002
Rikki Fulton
1924 - 2004
Winnie Ewing
Born 1929
Stanley Baxter
Born 1926
Iain Crichton Smith
1928 - 1998
Alastair McCorquodale
1925 - 2009
Bobby Thomson
1923 - 2010
James Barr (biblical scholar)
1924 - 2006
Russ Mayberry
1925 - 2012
John McHale (artist)
1922 - 1978
Iain Hamilton (composer)
1922 - 2000
Archibald Hall
1924 - 2002
Michael Woolfson
1927 - 2019
Bobby Evans
1927 - 2001
Alick Isaacs
1921 - 1967
Jack D. Dunitz
Born 1923
Matt McGinn
1928 - 1977
Alan Tyson
1926 - 2000
Bob McIntyre (motorcyclist)
1928 - 1962
Derek Bond
1920 - 2006
Harry Benson
Born 1929
Norman Macleod (chess problemist)
1927 - 1991
Bill Knox
1928 - 1999
Douglas Campbell (actor)
1922 - 2009
Reay Tannahill
1929 - 2007
Alex Campbell (singer)
1925 - 1987
John McCluskey, Baron McCluskey
1929 - 2017
Charlie Dempsey
1921 - 2008
J. Denis Summers-Smith
1920 - 2020
Buxton Orr
1924 - 1997
Cliff Hanley
1922 - 1999
James Gowan
1923 - 2015
Pearse Hutchinson
1927 - 2012
Bobby Campbell (Scottish footballer)
1922 - 2009
Ian Steel
1928 - 2015
Norman Macfarlane, Baron Macfarlane of Bearsden
Born 1926
Ninian Sanderson
1925 - 1985
Gordon McLennan (politician)
1924 - 2011
Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson
1920 - 1980
Harry Haddock
1925 - 1998
Paddy Tunney
1921 - 2002
John Mone
1929 - 2016
David McNee
1925 - 2019
Dickson Mabon
1925 - 2008
Alan Paterson
1928 - 1999
Robin Nisbet
1925 - 2013
John McLusky
1923 - 2006
Bill McGuffie
1927 - 1987
Arnold Clark
1927 - 2017
Margot Sandeman
1922 - 2009
George Forrest (historian)
1925 - 1997
Alex McAvoy
1928 - 2005
Hugh Howie
1924 - 1958
A. Ian Scott
1928 - 2007
Bill Robertson (Scottish footballer)
1928 - 1973
Edward Lyons
1926 - 2010
Lionel Gossman
Born 1929
Betty Miller Unterberger
1922 - 2012
Roddy McMillan
1923 - 1979
Russell Hunter
1925 - 2004
John Skelton (sculptor)
1923 - 1999
Hugh McCartney
1920 - 2006
Leonard Maguire
1924 - 1997
Johnny Beattie
1926 - 2020
Elizabeth Mavor
1927 - 2013
Phil McCall
1925 - 2002
Ian Thomson (Fiji)
1920 - 2008
C. P. Taylor
1929 - 1981
Geoffrey Johnson-Smith
1924 - 2010
Gerald Howat
1928 - 2007
Mamie Magnusson
1925 - 2012
Tiny Wharton
1927 - 2005
Bobby Mitchell (footballer, born 1924)
1924 - 1993
Irene Sunters
1928 - 2005
Janey Buchan
1926 - 2012
Joseph Brady (actor)
1928 - 2001
Jimmy Sirrel
1922 - 2008
Andy MacMillan
1928 - 2014
Gordon Donaldson (journalist)
1926 - 2001
William Gibson (footballer, born 1926)
1926 - 1995
Malcolm Brodie (journalist)
1926 - 2013
William Dysart
1929 - 2002
Billy McPhail
1928 - 2003
Neil Carmichael, Baron Carmichael of Kelvingrove
1921 - 2001
Leslie Johnston
1920 - 2001
Alex Govan
1929 - 2016
Willie Forbes
1922 - 1999
Donald Cameron (rugby union born 1927)
1927 - 2003
Tom McNeil
1929 - 2020
Iain MacIntyre (Endokrinologe)
1924 - 2008
Morag Clark
1929 - 2019
Arthur Thomson (fanzines)
1927 - 1990
Duncan Inglis Cameron
1927 - 2006
Sandy Mactaggart
1928 - 2017
Bill Thompson (Scottish footballer)
1921 - 1988
Jim Mallan
1927 - 1969
Ian McPherson
1920 - 1983
James A. Barclay
1923 - 2011
Jack Gerson
1928 - 2012
Archie Kelly
1921 - 2005
Bob Crosbie
1925 - 1994
James Elliott (actor)
1928 - 2011
Alexander Murray MacBeath
1923 - 2014
Tommy Bogan
1920 - 1993
Alec Young
1925 - 2010
Willie Toner
1929 - 1999
Fergus W. Campbell
1924 - 1993
Ernie Walker (football)
1928 - 2011
Jimmy Mitchell
1924 - 2004
Johnny Paton
1923 - 2015
Archie Wright
1924 - 1990
Philip Carter
1927 - 2015
Bobby Herbert
1925 - 2006
Johnny Walker (footballer, born 1928)
1928 - 2019
Alex Simpson
1924 - 2008
Stuart McKerrow
1922 - 2004
Bernard H. Mendik
1929 - 2001
Eddie Rutherford
1921 - 2007
Bobby Dougan
1926 - 2010
Isabel Brodie Babianska
1920 - 2006
Jack Jordan
1924 - 2007
William Kerr Fraser
1929 - 2018
Joe Dunn (footballer)
1925 - 2005
Eric Treverrow
1926 - 2015
Ken Chisholm
1925 - 1990
Jimmy Campbell (footballer, born 1921)
1921 - 2004
Fergy Brown
1923 - 2013
Willie Rae (footballer, born 1924)
Born 1924
Janet Elizabeth Macgregor
1920 - 2005
Bobby Harper
1920 - 1980
Don Dobie
1927 - 1996
Jim Hastie
1920 - 1996
Bobby Howitt
1925 - 2005
Donald Macpherson (piper)
1922 - 2012
Charlie Watkins
1921 - 1998
Jimmy Scott (footballer, born 1927)
Born 1927
David Ince
1921 - 2017
Charles Grant Gordon
1927 - 2013
Angus Cameron (rugby union)
1929 - 1991
Joe Baillie
1929 - 1966
Concordia Scott
1924 - 2014
Colin Liddell
1925 - 1997
Lindsay Bryson
1925 - 2005
Alastair Craig Paterson
Born 1924
Bobby Laing
1925 - 1985
Joe Hughes (British Army soldier)
1925 - 1946
Alex Alexander (footballer)
1924 - 2005
Tommy McCulloch (footballer, born 1921)
1921 - 2003
John Anderson (footballer, born 1928)
1928 - 2001
Andy Dolan
1920 - 1971
Pat McKenna (footballer)
1920 - 1995
Bill Ritchie (politician)
1927 - 2014
George Hazlett
1923 - 2012
Sam McNab
1926 - 1995
Andy McGill
1924 - 1988
Tommy Lowrie
1928 - 2009
Andy Jack
Born 1923
Arthur Nugent
1926 - 1995
Bobby Cairns
1929 - 1998
Joe Coupland
1920 - 1989
Gordon McIntosh
1925 - 2019
Joe Cadden
1920 - 1981
Johnny Curran
1924 - 1985
William Cowie (rugby union)
Born 1926
Murdoch McCormack
1920 - 1951
Bill Lamont
1926 - 1996
John Duffy (footballer, born 1922)
1922 - 1996
Jimmy Fleming (footballer, born 1929)
1929 - 2019
Matt McNeil
1927 - 1977
Mike Skivington
1921 - 2012
Billy Hughes (footballer, born March 1929)
1929 - 2003
Jimmy Ritchie
1925 - 2003
Ally McLellan
1922 - 2010
Willie McCall (footballer, born 1920)
1920 - 1985
Donald Alexander (researcher)
1928 - 2007
Archie McIndewar
1921 - 2004
Ian McGraw
1926 - 2014
Joe Feeney (footballer)
1926 - 1992
Willie Paton
1925 - 2005
William M. Hutchison
1924 - 1998
Allan Cameron (rugby union)
1924 - 2009
Duncan Smith (footballer)
Born 1929
Frank McCormack (footballer)
1924 - 2011
Jock Sim
1922 - 2008
Duncan McMillan
1922 - 1992
Bob Taylor (rugby union, born 1924)
1924 - 2015
Edwin Henriksen
1929 - 2000
Tom McGairy
Born 1927
Jimmy Middlemass
1920 - 1998
Willie Box
Born 1927
Willie Walmsley
1924 - 2001
Don McKenzie (footballer, born 1927)
1927 - 1987
Gerald Church
Born 1928
John Russell (footballer, born 1923)
1923 - 2005
Morton Ramsay
Born 1926
Neil McInnes (bowls)
Born 1928
Archie McWhinnie
1926 - 1971
Les Donaldson
1922 - 1995
Bobby McLaren
1929 - 2008
Rosemary Bamforth
1924 - 2018
Hugh B. Sutherland
1920 - 2011