53.4668° N, 2.2333° W
MANCHESTER
Most Famous People Born in Manchester, United Kingdom
- Notable people
- 1,751
- Peak decade
- 1960s
- Median birth year
- 1950
- Most distinctive
- Boxer 3.3×
The first industrial city in the world, and still the one the British music press writes about more than any other. More than a quarter of Manchester's notables are footballers, and the distinctive shelves after that are boxers and actors — the legacy of the Salford and Wythenshawe boxing clubs and a stage tradition that has fed Coronation Street for sixty years. Emmeline Pankhurst, the Pankhurst daughters, David Lloyd George, and the Manchester University labs that built the world's first stored-program computer all belong to this bench too.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Manchester during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1960s with 202 notable births.
What Manchester Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Football is Manchester's biggest profession — 25% of all notables (437).
Manchester over-indexes on boxer — 3.3× the global rate.
Manchester under-produces politician — only 0.4× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Manchester's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Film & TV
- Music
- Writing
- Science
- Politics & Law
- Other
- Field: Writer Clear ×
Anthony Burgess
1917 - 1993
Jeanette Winterson
Born 1959
Alice Bailey
1880 - 1949
Winston Graham
1908 - 2003
Taylor Caldwell
1900 - 1985
Ian McDonald (British author)
Born 1960
William Harrison Ainsworth
1805 - 1882
Sophie Hannah
Born 1971
Stephen Leather
Born 1956
Steve Jackson (British game designer)
Born 1951
Gwyneth Jones (novelist)
Born 1952
Tim Parks
Born 1954
Richard Mason (novelist 1919–1997)
1919 - 1997
Gilbert Cannan
1884 - 1955
William Hepworth Dixon
1821 - 1879
Cathy Hopkins
Born 1953
Paul Shipton
Born 1963
Louis Golding
1895 - 1958
Ernest Wood
1883 - 1965
Doug Naylor
Born 1955
Isabella Banks
1821 - 1897
Steven Hall (author)
Born 1975
Edgar Lustgarten
1907 - 1978
Brian Callison
Born 1934
Nicholas Royle
Born 1963
Josephine Bell
1897 - 1987
Roger Morris (English writer)
Born 1960
John Ash (writer)
1948 - 2019
Ruth Ainsworth
1908 - 1984
Elfrida Vipont
1902 - 1992
Jay Griffiths
Born 1965
Jill Liddington
Born 1946
Saci Lloyd
Born 1967
Mollie Hardwick
1916 - 2003
Peter Carter (author)
1929 - 1999
Derek Nikitas
Born 1974
Marina Fiorato
Born 1973
Andy Remic
Born 1971
Jessie Fothergill
1851 - 1891
Anthony McGowan
Born 1965
Michael Butterworth (author)
Born 1947
Faranak Margolese
Born 1972
John Hutton (author)
Born 1928
Brian Farrell (broadcaster)
1929 - 2014
Jonathan Fryer
Born 1950
Richard Crompton
Born 1973
Charles Tenshin Fletcher
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Irving Wardle
Born 1929
Sue Palmer
Born 1948
Sam Stone
-
Charles Hulbert
1778 - 1857
Robert Shaw (business writer)
Born 1950
Charles Henry Timperley
1794 - 1869
Alis Levi
1884 - 1982
John Rowland Ashton
1917 - 2008
Mary Hennell
1802 - 1843
Simon Kurt Unsworth
Born 1972
Ian Gregson (poet)
Born 1953
Helmut Kramer (Theologe)
1910 - 2011
Mary Ann Hutton
1862 - 1953
Harvey Broadbent
Born 1946
Sierra Cartwright
Born 1963
Michelle Reid
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