Famous People From Newcastle

Newcastle and its surrounding towns have produced a remarkable number of household names, from chart-topping singers to World Cup footballers. The tricky part is that "Geordie" is a loose label. Plenty of people described as being from Newcastle were actually born a few miles away in Wallsend, Gateshead, Washington or North Shields, all part of the wider Tyneside conurbation but not the city itself. This guide keeps that distinction honest: below you will find those genuinely born in Newcastle upon Tyne, followed by figures from the surrounding area who are just as tied to the region.

Born in Newcastle: music

The city's musical roll-call is long. Eric Burdon, the powerful voice of The Animals, was born in Walker in 1941, and his bandmate Chas Chandler, the group's bassist who went on to discover Jimi Hendrix and manage Slade, was born in Heaton in 1938. Hank Marvin, lead guitarist of The Shadows and one of the most influential British guitarists of his generation, was born Brian Rankin in the city that same year, 1941.

Alan Hull, the singer-songwriter who founded the Tyneside folk-rock band Lindisfarne and wrote "Fog on the Tyne", was born in Benwell in 1945. And in pop terms the biggest modern name is Cheryl (born Cheryl Tweedy in 1983), who rose to fame with Girls Aloud before a solo career. She was born in Newcastle and grew up on estates in Walker and Heaton.

Best for: Sting is often listed as a Newcastle musician, but he was actually born Gordon Sumner in 1951 in Wallsend, just east of the city. Close, but not the city itself.

Born in Newcastle: screen and comedy

No Newcastle names are more famous today than Ant and Dec. Both Anthony McPartlin (born 1975) and Declan Donnelly (born 1975) were born in the city and met as teenagers on the set of the BBC children's drama Byker Grove, filmed in the East End. They have been an inseparable presenting double act ever since.

Jimmy Nail (born James Bradford in 1954) grew up to play Oz in the classic comedy-drama Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and later created and starred in Spender and Crocodile Shoes. His Auf Wiedersehen, Pet co-star Tim Healy, who played Dennis, was born in Benwell in 1952. A more recent export is Charlie Hunnam (born 1980), the Sons of Anarchy and Pacific Rim actor, who was born in Newcastle and lived here until he was twelve.

Born in Newcastle: faith and letters

The most eminent Novocastrian of the twentieth century may be Cardinal Basil Hume (born George Hume in 1923), the Benedictine monk who became Archbishop of Westminster and the most respected Roman Catholic figure in England for over two decades. Miriam Stoppard (born 1937), the doctor, author and television presenter, was also born in the city and trained in medicine at what is now Newcastle University.

From the wider Tyneside area

Several performers usually thought of as "from Newcastle" were in fact born in the towns around it, and it is worth being clear about where.

Bryan Ferry, the suave frontman of Roxy Music, was born in 1945 in Washington, then in County Durham. Brian Johnson, who became AC/DC's lead singer in 1980, was born in 1947 in Dunston, on the Gateshead side of the Tyne. Neil Tennant, singer and lyricist of the Pet Shop Boys, was born in North Shields in 1954. On the coast, Andy Taylor, Duran Duran's guitarist, was born in Tynemouth in 1961 and raised in Cullercoats.

Best for: A useful rule of thumb: if someone was born in Wallsend, Washington, Gateshead, North Shields or South Shields, they are Tyneside or wider North East, not Newcastle proper. The accent travels; the city boundary does not.

On screen, Robson Green (born 1964), the Soldier Soldier, Wire in the Blood and Grantchester actor, was born in Hexham and raised in the pit village of Dudley, both in Northumberland. His Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Inspector Morse colleague Kevin Whately (born 1951) was born in Humshaugh, near Hexham. The comedian Sarah Millican (born 1975) is from South Shields.

In literature, Catherine Cookson (born 1906), one of the most prolific and widely read British novelists of the century, was born in Tyne Dock in South Shields and set much of her work in the riverside communities she knew. The writer Sid Chaplin (born 1916), whose novels The Day of the Sardine and The Watchers and the Watched vividly captured working-class Newcastle, was actually born in Shildon in County Durham and moved to the city as an adult.

Sporting Tyneside

Football is where the region's pride runs deepest. Alan Shearer (born 1970 in Gosforth) is Newcastle United's and the Premier League's all-time record goalscorer, a genuine city-born hero who captained his boyhood club. The brothers Sir Bobby Charlton (born 1937) and Jack Charlton (born 1935), both members of England's 1966 World Cup-winning side, were born in Ashington, the Northumberland mining town about fifteen miles north of the city, the same town that produced the footballing Milburn family.

A region that punches above its weight

What stands out across the list is the breadth: a cardinal, a chart-conquering girl-group singer, two of the biggest presenters on British television, guitar heroes of the 1960s and a record-breaking centre-forward, all from one small stretch of the North East. Whether born inside the city walls or a few miles along the Tyne, they carry the same unmistakable identity, and the region rightly claims them all.

Think we have missed a famous Novocastrian, or spotted a birthplace that needs correcting? Get in touch and let us know.