Northampton (
pronunciation (help·info)) is a big market town and a local government district of the East Midlands part of the United Kingdom. The district has a population of 200,100 people.
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Northampton has a major entertainment centre called the Derngate.
- Modern
- Steve Flint, aged 19, represented Northamptonshire at the 1980 Inter-Counties Championships One Mile, winning in a time of 3 minutes 58 seconds, making him one of only four teenage sub-four minute milers in the UK.
- Composer William Alwyn (1905-1985) was born in the town.
- Composer Sir Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006) was born in Northampton.
- Judy Carne, born Joyce Botterill on April 27, 1939 in the town, is an actress who may be best remembered for her introducing the phrase "Sock it to me!" while a regular on Laugh-In.
- Comedian Alan Carr attended what is now Weston Favell School. His father Graham Carr managed the Town's football club at the time.
- Scientist Francis Crick, born in the town in 1916, along with James D. Watson discovered the structure of DNA, and went on to win a Nobel Prize. In December 2005, a public sculpture called Discovery by Lucy Glendinning was erected in Abington Street as a memorial to Crick .
- Journalist and broadcaster Andrew Collins is from Northampton and wrote about growing up in the town in his memoir Where Did It All Go Right?.
- Actress Joan Hickson, famous for playing Miss Marple, comes from Kingsthorpe.
- Birds of a Feather actress Lesley Joseph grew up in the town.
- Actor Robert Llewellyn (Kryten from Red Dwarf) was also born in the town, and lived at 47 Booth Rise until the age of 13 (source: Anglian TV's Celebrity Going Home: Robert Llewellyn (2004))
- Writer Alan Moore, creator of V for Vendetta, Watchmen, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, is a lifelong resident of Northampton. His novel Voice of the Fire is a fictionalized history of the town.
- BBC radio presenter Anna Murby comes from the county.
- Nanette Newman, actress and author, was born in Northampton.
- Des O'Connor lived in Northampton, worked at Church's for some years and played for the Cobblers (Northampton Town Football Club).
- Myrea Pettit, renowned fantasy artist of fairies, flowers and butterflies learned her craft in Northamptonshire.
- Jo Whiley, the BBC Radio 1 DJ was born in the town in 1965.
- The late Delia Derbyshire, who was behind the original version of the Doctor Who theme tune, spent her final years in the town.
- Blue Peter's Peter Purves lived in the nearby village of Cogenhoe.
- Composer Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986) was born in the town.
- Professional wrestler Norman Smiley was born in the town.
- Nearby is Althorp, the country estate of Earl Spencer where Diana, Princess of Wales is buried. Charles Spencer, the current and 9th Earl Spencer (b. 1964) is her brother.
- Television presenter Michael Underwood lives in the town.
- Marc Warren, who plays Danny Blue in the BBC's Hustle series, was born in Kingsthorpe.
- Stuart Pearson Wright, award winning artist was born in Northampton in 1975.
- Lorna Fitzgerald, who plays Abi Branning in Eastenders lives in Hunsbury
- Issim Ullah, acclaimed late Bangladeshi businessman, landlord and soldier lived in Spencer.
- Historical
- Elizabeth Bowen, 20th century Anglo-Irish writer, lived here after her marriage.
- Charles Bradlaugh, the famous radical MP, was a member for the town.
- Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)- a puritan poet later based in Massachusetts.
- Alban Butler (1710-1773) - the author of Lives of the Saints
- John Clare, the poet, was sectioned in the local madhouse, where he remained until his death in 1864.
- Errol Flynn acted in the Northampton Repertory Theatre between 1933 and 1935.
- Jerome K. Jerome, author of Three Men in a Boat and other works, died in Northampton in 1927.
- Spencer Perceval was a local MP and Prime Minister. He was shot in the House of Commons by assassin John Bellingham in 1812.
- Victorian cricketer and pioneer missionary Charles ("C.T.") Studd who played in the first Ashes test, was born at Spratton.
- Musical
- Bauhaus (band)
- The Departure
- Mark Griffiths, bass player with Shadows, Cliff Richard, David Essex, Matthews Southern Comfort
- Faye Tozer, singer from pop group Steps
- Other