Guide To Famous Suffolk Residents
Famous Suffolk Residents
Suffolk is a wonderful county rich in history, distinct architecture and breath-taking, scenic countryside. The following article aims to outline a number of the famous Suffolk residents and visitors, both past and present.
Ruth Watson - hotelier, restaurateur, broadcaster and writer, Ruth Watson is a well known face in Suffolk. Many of you may have seen her in the television series, The Hotel Inpsector and Country House Rescue. She has also been a writer and inspector for the Good Food Guide, as well as being the food editor for The Daily Mail Weekend Magazine and Sainsbury's Magazine. Ruth has owned and run a number of hotels and inns in Suffolk, and is currently the co-owner of The Crown and Castle, Orford.
Twiggy - one of the world"s most famous models, Twiggy, shares a home in Southwold with her actor husband, Leigh Lawson. The couple (pictured above) can often be seen taking a walk along the beach in Southwold, and Twiggy says she loves shopping "" especially for food "" in a number of Suffolk markets. It was one winter in 2004, when the couple were having lunch in a pub after one of their walks on the gusty beach, that she was spotted by Steve Sharp, the marketing executive for Marks & Spencer.
He had the immediate idea of using her in the now well-regarded M&S campaign. Twiggy says, "I'm very happy I went to that pub. It's funny, when I think of all the times I've been to meet someone about a job, and worried about what to wear, and got changed a million times. And then there I am that day in Southwold in my woolly hat and anorak, and Steve spots me. It just shows, doesn't it?"
Jimmy Hoseason - (1927-2009) one of the region's most successful and well-known holiday entrepreneurs, Jimmy Hoseason, grew up in Lowestoft where his father Wally was the harbourmaster. A civil engineer by trade, he took over his father's small boatyard after Wally's death. Hoseasons was founded in 1944 by Wally, who started hiring out boats in Oulton Broad as holiday homes on behalf of their owners during a fuel ban because of the Second World War. Mr Hoseason, who lived in Beccles, died on Saturday 7th November 2009 at age 82.
Angus McBean (1904-1990) "" a highly influential photographer thought to have revolutionized portraiture in the 20th century by photographing the likes of Audrey Hepburn, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Agatha Christie, Laurence Olivier, Noel Coward, Vivien Leigh, and The Beatles (to name but a few). During the 1970s, McBean began his first short-lived retirement and moved to Suffolk. Here he concentrated on restoring his spectacular moated house, Flemmings Hall, in Bedingfield near Eye. McBean turned the house into a decorative fantasia on Greensleeves, in keeping with his own sartorial style. For ten years McBean did not work as a professional photographer, preferring to photograph a few of his Suffolk friends as a hobby, and instead focused his energies on giving guided tours of Flemmings Hall, and restoring antiques for the antiques shop he owned in Debenham, today home of the Debenham Arts Festival. McBean was a highly regarded member of the Suffolk community, and there are even reports of him having judged a photography competition in Eye. By his eightieth birthday McBean was restoring his second medieval house in Suffolk. He died in 1990, on the night of his eighty-sixth birthday.
Sir Clement Freud (24 April 1924 "" 15 April 2009) "" the broadcaster, writer, politician and chef, Sir Clement Freud, was born in Berlin and was the grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and the brother of artist Lucian Freud. In his early years, Clement was one of Britain's first celebrity chefs and wrote various newspaper and magazine columns. He later became a familiar face on television for his appearance in a series of dog food commercials. Whilst running a nightclub he met a newspaper editor who gave him a job as a sports journalist. From there he became an award-winning food and drink writer. In 1973, Clement turned his talents to politics when he won the Isle of Ely Parliamentary by-election. He and became a Liberal Member of Parliament between 1973 and 1987, and his departure was marked by the award of a knighthood.
Clement died at his home in Walberswick on 15 April 2009, aged 84. His wife, actress Jill Raymond, runs a successful theatre company near to the family home, and his daughter, broadcaster Emma Freud, and her partner, Four Weddings and a Funeral scriptwriter Richard Curtis, own and reside in a country house also Walberswick.
Norman Tebbit - the outspoken former Conservative MP who was a key figure in Margaret Thatcher's government, Lord Tebbit and his wife, Margaret, currently live in Bury St Edmunds, where he aimed to enjoy his retirement and "a peaceful life". The couple also favored Bury St Edmunds because of the facilities close at hand for Margaret, who was confined to a wheelchair after the IRA's bombing of the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the 1984 Conservative Party conference, where Tebbit was also injured.
George Crabbe (24 December 1754 "" 3 February 1832) - the English poet and artist, George Crabbe, was born in Aldeburgh where he first developed his love of poetry. In 1768 he was apprenticed to a local doctor. The field of medicine taught and interested him little, and in 1771 he changed masters and moved to Woodbridge. There he met his future wife, Sarah Elmy. His first major work, a poem entitled Inebriety, was self-published in 1775. He went on to publish The Library (1781), and became most well known for The Village (1783) and The Borough (1810). His poetry has also been described as unsentimental in its depiction of provincial life and society. He was ordained as a priest in 1872.
Brian Eno -the musician, composer, record producer and singer, Brian Eno, is best known as the keyboard and synthesiser player for Roxy Music. He grew up in Woodbridge, where he still owns a large Victorian house.
Michael Palin - the Sheffield-born globe-trotter and former Monty Python comedian, Michael Palin currently lives in Suffolk. He met his girlfriend, Helen Gibbins, whilst on holiday in Southwold in 1959. This meeting, alongside Palin"s other childhood memories, became fictionalised in his play, East of Ipswich. The couple married in 1966, and returned to Southwold in recent years to live. Palin opened the Electric Picture Palace in May 2002, saying that it would be very welcome after a 40 year absence and he commended it as a focus for interest in films and film making. Palin left a signed photograph which is framed and hangs in the foyer. The inscription reads:
"To the Electric Picture Palace, Southwold. May your screen bring joy and your organ continue to rise! All good wishes Michael Palin. Opening Day May 18 2002."
He also wrote the foreword for the book The Best of Southwold edited by John Miller.
Maggi Hambling - Maggi Hambling is a household name in British art for her work as a figurative painter, sculptor and printmaker. Maggi has many connections with Suffolk, having been born there and created the Scallop sculpture on Aldeburgh beach. Please see Maggi Hambling for more information.
Ronald "Carl" Giles (1916 ""1995) "" often referred to simply as Giles, this Suffolk-born cartoonist was most famous for his work for the British newspaper the Daily Express. A bronze statue of his character "Grandma" to commemorate him is located in Ipswich town centre.
John Peel "" the influential DJ and radio presenter, John Peel lived in Suffolk for 33 years, and his gravestone was erected three years after his death. Peel was Radio 1's longest serving DJ when he died aged 65 in October 2004, famously championing The Undertones' Teenage Kicks on his show. He was quoted as saying he would like the song's line "our teenage dreams so hard to beat" on his tombstone. The DJ is buried in St Andrew's Church, in the village of Great Finborough, Suffolk. Peel's widow, Sheila Ravenscroft, said: "We have put the words on the stone that he would've wanted. I wouldn't dare do anything else!"
Two of Britain"s greatest painters, John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough were both born and lived in Suffolk.
Claudia Schiffer "" the eternally youthful, German super-model and actress Claudia Schiffer owns a 5 million Elizabethan mansion, Coldham Hall, in Lawshall near Bury St Edmunds. Schiffer was married to Matthew Vaughn, producer of hit British film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, in St. George's church in the village of Shimpling on 25 May 2002. Shimpling is in south Suffolk, located around 7 miles from Bury St Edmunds, and is part of Babergh district. Despite being very a private person, Schiffer has been seen at the fashionable Suffolk Show in Trinity Park, Ipswich.
Ronald Blythe - the English writer and editor for Penguin Classics, Ronald Blythe, is best known for his book, Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village, which details life in Suffolk from the turn of the century to the 1960s. Blythe was born in Suffolk and educated in Sudbury. While a young man, he worked for Benjamin Britten at the Aldeburgh Festival.
Sportsmen - Suffolk's contributions to sport include Formula One magnate Bernie Ecclestone and England footballers Terry Butcher, Kieron Dyer and Matthew Upson. Due to Newmarket being the centre of British horseracing many jockeys have settled in the county, including Lester Piggott and Frankie Dettori.
Sue Ryder (1923""2000) "" this remarkable British peeress who worked with Special Operations Executive in the Second World War later opened and based the Sue Ryder Foundation (AKA Sue Ryder Care) in Cavendish, Suffolk in 1979.
Cradle of Filth - this extreme metal band featuring songs that focus on a horror theme were formed in Suffolk 1991, and lead singer Dani Filth married his girlfriend Toni on October 31 2005 in Ipswich "" the couple and their daughter Luna still reside in Suffolk.
Corgis from the film, The Queen - Helen Mirren impressed cinema-goers the world over with her performance as the Queen - but few people know her co-star Corgis come from a small Suffolk village! The dogs - Anna, Poppy, and Poppy's puppies Megan, Alice and Oliver - belong to Liz Smith, a retired outside caterer from Little Blakenham, near Ipswich, who became known as "Corgi Liz" on set. Smith was approached to help with the film after her dogs were spotted at an obedience competition by an animal consultant for film and television.
A number of famous people were born in Suffolk and began the preliminary years of their childhood there "" these include the actors Bob Hoskins (Bury St Edmunds) and Ralph Fiennes (Ipswich), the film & theatre director Trevor Nunn (Ipswich), Hip-Hop DJ and television presenter Tim Westwood (Lowestoft), and poet, writer, and traveller Charles Montagu Doughty (1843 "" 1926, Saxmundham).
William Songer - Captain Arthur Wakefield's brother-in-law who travelled to Nelson, New Zealand on the Whitby as Wakefield's servant, was born in the village of Stoke by Nayland, and suggested naming the township after his birthplace.
P.D. James - the renowned crime fiction writer, P. D. James, has a second home in Southwold and was created Baroness James of Holland Park in 1991. She often sets her novels in Suffolk "" for example, in Unnatural Causes, the character Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh goes looking for a quiet holiday at his aunt's cottage on Monksmere Head, just south of Dunwich. However, all hope of peace is soon shattered by murder. On his initial journey, the detective stops at Blythburgh church and enters "the cold silvery whiteness of one of the loveliest church interiors in Suffolk". Covehithe is the setting for Death in Holy Orders, and in The Children of Men, a novel set in the future, Southwold is the centre for the compulsory suicide of the old! P. D. James" autobiography is full of local allusions, including pictures of the Cathedral of the Marshes at Blythburgh.
Francis Bacon - not exactly a resident but the artist Francis Bacon was frequent visitor to Long Melford, where his lover's brother, David Edwards, owned Westgate House. This Georgian house was an ideal escape for Bacon from London pressures. The House has a large walled garden which played host to riotous parties, as Bacon enjoyed entertaining his friends from the East End. Long Melford is today offers a thriving Arts Scene with many top class art galleries. For more information please see Art Galleries in Suffolk and Art Exhibitions in Suffolk.
Ruth Rendell "" another much loved author, Ruth Rendell once lived in Polstead, and in 1997 was created Baroness Rendell of Babergh (of Aldeburgh in the County of Suffolk). Rendell features Suffolk in many of her novels, produced her own illustrated Ruth Rendell"s Suffolk. Make Death Love Me begins with a robbery at thevAnglia Victoria bank in Suffolk, and "" written under Rendell"s penname, Barbara Vine - Gallowglass is set in Sudbury, while she wrote about Orford and Aldeburgh for part of No Night is Too Long, Polstead and Nayland for A Fatal Inversion and Bury St Edmunds and its surroundings for The Brimstone Wedding.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) "" a frequent visitor to Suffolk, the author Charles Dickens made several references to Suffolk in his work. For example, Satis House is featured in Great Expectations. When he became famous he toured the county giving recitals of his work - he opened the lecture hall for the Ipswich Mechanics Institute in 1851.
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