Famous British People a to z

Wayne Rooney is one of the world's best-known soccer players and a top scorer for the Manchester United club.

J.K. Rowling is the creator of the Harry Potter fantasy series, one of the most popular book and film franchises in history.

Scottish Rob Roy, also known as Red MacGregor was the famous Scottish folk hero of the 18th century best known as the Scottish Robin Hood.

Salman Rushdie is a British-Indian novelist best known for the novels Midnight's Children (1981) and The Satanic Verses (1988), for which he was accused of blasphemy against Islam.

Physicist Ernest Rutherford was the central figure in the study of radioactivity who led the exploration of nuclear physics.

Sade is a singer who struck a cord around with world in the 1980s with sultry, soul-inspired songs like 'Smooth Operator.'

Vidal Sassoon revolutionized women’s hairstyles in the post-war years and created an international hair-products empire which proclaimed "If you don't look good, we don't look good."

British actor Paul Scofield is one of only a handful of actors who have won an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony.

Ridley Scott is an English director and producer, whose notable hits include Thelma and Louise, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down. He is also recognized as the older brother of director Tony Scott, who committed suicide in August 2012.

English film director Tony Scott was best known for his first box-office success, Top Gun, as well as later films like True Romance and Enemy of the State. He was the brother of  Ridley Scott, also a famed producer and director.

Mary Seacole was a Jamaican nurse who cared for British soldiers at the battlefront during the Crimean War.

Seal is a Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter with an international reach known for hits like "Crazy," "Kiss From a Rose" and "Love's Divine."

British actor Peter Sellers was incredibly versatile, playing Chief Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther films with as much ease as Clare Quilty in Lolita.

Andy Serkis is famous for playing Gollum in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, as well as for his roles in King Kong, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Hobbit.

Anna Sewell was the British author of the classic children's horse story Black Beauty.

Anne Boleyn's successor, Queen Consort Jane Seymour, was Henry VIII’s third wife. She bore his first male heir, King Edward VI, before dying of complications.

Emmy Award-winning British actress Jane Seymour starred on the dramatic TV series Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman, and was in the James Bond film Live and Let Die.

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was an Irish-born British explorer who was a principal figure of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

William Shakespeare, often called the English national poet, is widely considered the greatest dramatist of all time.

English writer Mary Shelley is best known for her horror novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818). She was married to poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Known for his lyrical and long-form verse, Percy Bysshe Shelley is one of the most highly regarded English Romantic poets of the 19th century. His works include The Masque of Anarchy and Queen Mab.

Kate Sheppard was a leader in the New Zealand women's suffrage movement, helping women gain the right to vote in New Zealand.

British serial killer Harold Shipman, who worked in England as a medical doctor, killed over 200 of his patients before his arrest in 1998.

Jean Shrimpton is known for being one of the world's first supermodels, the highest-paid model of the 1960s and the face of "Swinging London," as well as for popularizing the miniskirt.

English musician Paul Simonon was bass player for the punk rock band The Clash.

American socialite Wallis Simpson became the mistress of Edward, Prince of Wales. Edward abdicated the throne to marry her, a period known as the Abdication Crisis.

Siouxsie Sioux is best known as the lead singer of the group Siouxsie and the Banshees, whose most popular singles include "Peek-A-Boo," "Cities in Dust," "The Killing Jar" and "Kiss Them For Me."

Dame Edith Sitwell was an English poet was famous for her formidable personality, Elizabethan dress, and eccentric opinions.

Award-winning hard rock guitarist Slash played with Guns N’ Roses until 1996. He went on to form the band Velvet Revolver and release two solo albums.

Captain Edward J. Smith played a role in one of the most famous disasters at sea in history, the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.

John Smith was a British soldier who was a founder of the American colony of Jamestown in the early 1600s.

British actress Maggie Smith's distinguished career includes performing opposite Laurence Olivier in Othello to an Academy Award-winning performance in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, to a role in the Harry Potter series.

Matthew Robert Smith is a British actor best known for playing the lead role in the popular British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, produced by the BBC.

Zadie Smith is a novelist whose first book, White Teeth, was a sensation, instantly putting her on the literary map.

Jerry Springer is an American talk show host, best known for his tabloid talk show, The Jerry Springer Show. He is also a former mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hailed as Britain's "best ever pop singer" by Rolling Stone, the English-born Dusty Springfield charted several 1960s hits, including "Son of a Preacher Man."

Ringo Starr first rose to fame in the early 1960s as the drummer for the legendary rock group the Beatles.

William Thomas Stead was a writer of journalistic pieces and ghost stories whose life came to an end on the Titanic.

British fashion icon John Stephen is considered the leader of the 1960s male "peacock revolution."

Stephen of Blois was king of England from 1135 to 1141. His reign was marked by a civil war known as The Anarchy.

British actor Dan Stevens is best known for his portrayal of Matthew Crawley on Downton Abbey, a career high point that he is parlaying into other high-profile projects.

Ian Stewart was one of the founding members of the Rolling Stones, later serving as their road manager and pianist.

Sting, born Gordon Sumner, is an English singer, songwriter and philanthropist best known as the frontman of The Police.

Singer Joss Stone is known for deep throaty vocals, soulful renditions and barefoot performances. At age 16, she released her debut album, The Soul Sessions.

Sir Tom Stoppard is a Czech-born British playwright whose famous works include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1964) and Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1978). He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1998 Academy Award winning film Shakespeare in Love. 

Joe Strummer was a British singer, songwriter and guitarist best known as the co-founder and member of the punk rock band The Clash.

Andy Summers achieved international fame as the Grammy Award-winning guitarist of The Police, known for hits songs like "Message in a Bottle," "Every Breath You Take" and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic."

Actor Kiefer Sutherland, son of Donald Sutherland, appeared in numerous coming-of-age films throughout the 1980s, including Stand by Me and The Lost Boys.

Tilda Swinton is an Oscar-winning British actress known for her arthouse film roles and for acclaimed performances in more mainstream pictures like Michael Clayton.

British swimmer Liam Tancock is a world record holder in the 50-meter and 100-meter backstroke events.

Actress Elizabeth Taylor starred in films like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Butterfield 8, but was just as famous for her violet eyes and scandalous love life.

Bassist John Taylor first rose to fame in the 1980s as a member of the internationally successful band Duran Duran.

Roger Taylor is a singer, guitarist and drummer known for playing with legendary band Queen and for his work as a solo artist.

Julien Temple is an English filmmaker and music video director who began his career directing the Sex Pistols documentary The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle (1979).

Neil Tennant is a British musician, songwriter and singer, best known as one half of the electronic dance music group the Pet Shop Boys.

The first female prime minister of Britain, Margaret Thatcher was a controversial figurehead of conservative ideology during her time in office.

Writer Dylan Thomas is best known for the poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," the play "Under Milk Wood," and for his heavy drinking.

Academy Award–winning actress Emma Thompson starred in films like Howards End, Sense and Sensibility and Nanny McPhee.

J.J. Thomson was a Nobel Prize winning physicist whose research led to the discovery of electrons.

J.R.R. Tolkien is an internationally renowned fantasy writer. He is best known for authoring The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend of Raynham, was an 18th century British secretary of state who became known as "Turnip Townshend" for his agricultural innovations.

Pete Townshend is best known as the guitarist and songwriter for the band the Who as it grew to be one of the most influential bands of the 1960 and '70s.

Pierre Trudeau was the 15th prime minister of Canada, famous for his youthful energy, his stance against a separate Quebec and suppressing violent revolt.

Mary Tudor was queen of England from 1553 to 1558. She became known as "Bloody Mary" for her persecution of Protestants.

Famed mathematician Alan Turing proved in his 1936 paper, "On Computable Numbers," that a universal algorithmic method of determining truth in math cannot exist.

J.M.W. Turner was a British landscape painter of the 18th and 19th centuries whose work is known for its luminous almost abstract quality.

In the mid-1960s, Twiggy became one of the world's first supermodels and the face of London's "mod" scene.

Peter Ustinov was an English actor, writer and director who is known for his Oscar-winning performances in Spartacus (1960) and Topkapi (1964).

Punk rocker Sid Vicious became famous as bassist for the Sex Pistols before his entanglement with drugs and Nancy Spungen ended his career and life.

Businessman Claus Von Bulow was twice accused of attempting to kill his socialite wife, a diabetic, with doses of insulin, and was defended by Alan Dershowitz.

Actor Jack Wagner rose to fame as the rocker Frisco Jones on the daytime soap opera General Hospital.

William Wallace, a Scottish knight, became a central early figure in the wars to secure Scottish freedom from the English, becoming one of his country's greatest national heroes.

After working in Europe for decades, actor Christoph Waltz caught the attention of American audiences with his role in Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds.