With the glorious Solent, bustling city centre and beautiful countryside, Southampton has been home to a surprising number of celebrities.

These actors, musicians, Youtubers and sporting stars are among the most famous faces to have graced our city:

Craig David

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Craig David (Ben Birchall/PA)

Craig David is a singer, songwriter, rapper, DJ and record producer who rose to fame in 1999, featuring on the single "Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger. 

Growing up on the Holyrood estate, David’s father was a local carpenter whilst his mother worked at Superdrug. He attended Bellemoor School and Southampton City College.

With 20 UK Top 40 singles, and seven UK Top 40 albums, he's has also sold over 15,000,000 records worldwide as a solo artist.

Southampton is one of the worlds most sung about places thanks to Craig David

Charlie Dimmock

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Charlie Dimmock (PA)

Charlie Dimmock is an English gardener and television presenter. She was a member of the team on Ground Force, a BBC gardening makeover programme, which aired from 1997 until 2005.

Since then, Dimmock has presented numerous TV shows in the UK and US, including The Joy of Gardening, Charlie's Garden Army and most recently Garden Rescue.

She is Southampton-born and a friend of Townhill Residents’ Association. In 2017 she unveiled a unique garden feature on Broadwater Road in memory of Ivan Nicholls.

Foxes 

Foxes, aka Louisa Rose Allen, was born and raised in Southampton growing up in the Swaythling and St Denys areas. The singer, songwriter and model has had many chart hits including ‘Youth’, ‘Let Go For Tonight’ and ‘Body Talk’. 

She shot to stardom in 2012 when her vocals were features on Zedd’s single ‘Clarity’ which peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and won a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording.

Benny Hill

Alfred Hawthorne "Benny" Hill was a comedian and actor, best remembered for his television programme The Benny Hill Show.

His show proved to be one of the great success stories of television comedy and was among the most-watched programmes in the UK with the audience peaking at more than 21 million in 1971.

Hill attended Taunton’s School and after leaving he worked in Woolworths and as a milkman in the city. 

Laura Carmichael 

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Laura Carmichael (Matt Crossick/PA)

Film and television actress, Laura Carmichael, is most widely known for her performance as Lady Edith Crawley in the ITV and PBS period drama series Downton Abbey.

Carmichael was born in Southampton attended Shirley Junior School, The Mountbatten School and Peter Symonds College.

Wayne Bridge

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Frankie Bridge and Wayne Bridge (Ian West/PA)

Retired footballer Wayne Bridge was born in Southampton but moved at an early age. 

The left-back is a graduate of the Southampton Academy where he made his debut in 1998. Bridge also played for Chelsea, West Ham, Manchester City and Fulham during his Premier League career.

He also made 36 appearances for the England national team between 2002 and 2009, being selected for two FIFA World Cup squads and UEFA Euro 2004. 

Luke Shaw

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Luke Shaw appeared at the 2014 World Cup (Mike Egerton/PA)

Manchester United left-back Luke Shaw was born in Kingston Upon Thames but at the age of eight he joined the Southampton under-18 team until the age of 15.

The football star has gone on to play for the England national team. 

Ken Russell

The legendary film maker was born on July 3, 1927 in Portswood, Southampton and later lived in the New Forest - most recently in Lymington with his wife Elize - known as Lisi.

He sadly passed away in 2011. As well as influencing cinema through his films, in later life Russell had a more direct approach, working with aspiring young film-makers at both the University of Southampton and Solent University as a guest lecturer, visiting fellow and workshop leader.

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As a child Mr Russell developed his love of cinema watching old cinefilms in his garage and at the cinema in Portswood Road.

He also shot a short film in the Daily Echo offices to promote a BAFTA competition.

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